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SIR WALTER SCOTT'S WORKS. 



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SIR WALTER SCOTT 



The Story of his Life. 



R?^E 



BY 

SHELTON MACKENZIE. 



Whate'er thy countrymen have done, 
By law and wit, by sword and gun. 

In thee is faithfully recited ; 
And all the living world that view 
Thy works give thee the praises due, 

At once instructed and dehghted." 

Prior. 




BOSTON : 
JAMES R. OSGOOD & COMPANY, 

(LATE TICKNOR b. FIELDS, AND FIELDS, OSGOOD, & CO.) 
I87I. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871, 

By JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO., 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



Boston : 
Stereotyped ana printed by Rand, Avery, &=• Frye. 



TO 

The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table, 

WHOSE 

GENIALITY AND GENIUS 

WOULD HAVE CHARMED 

"The Ariosto of the North," 
Efjts Ufllume 

IS GRATEFULLY INSCRIBED. 



PREFACE, 



T3ELIEVING that a biography of Sir Walter Scott, full but 
-"-^ not diffuse, reliable as well as popular, would be acceptable 
to the public, I have attempted such a work. Immediately after 
Scott's death, several writers of that time hastened to publish 
memoirs of the great departed. Several years later appeared 
the well-known Life of Sir Walter Scott by his son-in-law and 
literary executor, which ranks among the best and most interesting 
works of its class. It is too bulky, however, for general readers ; 
and its author, unconsciously perhaps, is often as much the apolo- 
gist as the biographer. 

Taking Lockhart as my main authority, as I should take Bos- 
well if I desired to write a Life of Dr. Johnson, I have written 
the story of Sir Walter's life ; correcting details, availing myself 
of all recent incidents and anecdotes which seemed worthy of pres- 
ervation, and endeavoring to exhibit a faithful view of his char- 
acter and writings. The subject has been on my mind for many 
years ; and I have treated it as well as I could. 

Independent of much never before collected, there will be found 



Viii PREFACE. 

in this volume some things of no ordinary interest, hitherto unpub- 
lished. Among these, I may particularly mention Miss Edge- 
worth's long-lost letter on the publication of " Waverley," authen- 
ticated by herself; and Scott's correspondence on Mr. E. Bird's 
painting of the battle-field of Chevy Chase. 

It is proper that I should here thank my friend Dr. S. A. Alli- 
bone, not only for a great deal of information in the catalogue 
raisonne of Scott's works (in his great "Dictionary of British and 
American Authors "), but for his kind counsel. On his sugges- 
tion, I have narrated, more fully than I first intended, my own 
personal relations with Scott. 

Here too, in common justice, I have to state that my own occa- 
sional lapses of memory have been supplied, and new information 
copiously given, by " The Lands of Scott," by James F. Hunne- 
well, published since I began this work. It has not surprised me 
to learn that Mr. Hunne well's volume, which is the master-key to 
Sir Walter's writings, and the various localities, home and for- 
eign, which they describe, has already been reprinted in Edin- 
burgh. It literally is a guide-book through Scott's life and works. 

R. SHELTON MACKENZIE. 
Philadelphia, July 1, 1871. 



O Iff T E E"-T S. 



CHAPTER I. PAGE. 

The Romance of his Life. — Genhis and Education. — Self-Teaching. — Le- 
gend and Song. — Historical Element In his IVritings. — Creative Pow- 
er. — Popularity. — Abbotsford. — Honor saved, and Life lost. — The 
Romancist at Home 1 

CHAPTER II. 

Ancestry. — Scotts and Rutherfords. — The Flower of Yarrow. — Scott's 
Father. — A Lamester. — Infancy at Sandy-Knowe. — Smailholme 
Tower. — At Bath. — Poets as Readers. — Early Studies. — Jacobite 
Traditions. — Monkbarns and Ensign Dalgetty. — Power of Memory . 15 

CHAPTER III. 

High School at Edinburgh. — Early Story-telling and Verses. — Omnivor- 
ous Reading. — The Ballantynes. — University Studies. — Foreign Lan- 
guages. — Incapacity for Greek. -^ Exliausting Libraries. — Napoleon 
under Arrest. — Rui-al Wanderings. — Leaves the University . . 3.3 

CHAPTER IV. 

Apprentice of the Law. — A Copying Machine. — Athletic Exercises. — 
Wanderings in the Highlands. — Word and Look from Robert Burns. 
Adam Fergusson. — Paper Lords. — Youthful Friends. — Literary 
Waiters. — Scottish Hospitality. — Speculative Society. — Flodden 
Field and Chevy Chase. — Putting on the Advocate's Gown . . .48 

CHAPTER V. 

Retrospect. — Cultivating the Graces. — Raids in Liddesdale. — Border 
Ballads. — At the Bar. — The Stove School. — Dressing up a Story.— 
Learning German. — A Client's Advice. — O'Connell. — A Young 
Man's Acquirements. — Mangled French. — Brougham and Arago. — 
Accomplishments. — Horsemanship. — Field Sports. — Angling. — 
Chess. — BQliards.- A Pair of Cards 65 

CHAPTER VI. 

Study of German Literature. — Biirger's "Lenore." — Taylor's and Scott's 
Translations. — Goethe's '" Goetz." — First Love. — Pursuit. — Encour- 
agement. — Rejection. — End of a Romance. — Caught in the Rebound. 
— Die Vernon at Gilsland. — The Popping-Stone. — Mystery of a Bride's 
Parentage. — Benedick the Married Man 11 

CHAPTER VII. 

Summer Retreat at Lasswade. — Publication. — Visit to London. — The 
House of Aspen. — Death of Scott's Father. — Thomas Scott. — Monk 
Lewis. — Charles James Fox. — Origin of* The Border Minstrelsy." — 
Appointment as Sheriff. — Niebuhr mistakes the Man. — Octosyllabic 
Metre 96 

ix 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VIII. PAGE. 

Oriffin of "The Border Minstrelsy." — Richard Heber. — John Leyden. — 
" Lucy's Flitting." — The Ettrick Shepherd. — George Ellis. — The Bor- 
der Press. — "Sir Tristrem." — William Motherwell. — Pinkerton.— 

Kitson. Bishop Percy. — Ballantyne's Removal to Edinburgh. — Visit 

to London.— Under the Oak in Windsor Park. — Bishop Heber.— 
Articles for " Edinburgh Review." — Removal to Ashestiel. — Succes- 
sion to Rosebank. — Visit from Wordsworth. — "Lay of the Last Min- 
streL" — Melrose by Moonlight 108 

CHAPTER IX. 

Reception of " The Lay." — Jeffrey, Thomas Campbell, Miss Seward, Words- 
worth, Southey. — Fox and Pitt. — Partnership with Ballantyne.— 
Home Habits. — "Waverley" begun. — Helvellyn. — Rumor of Inva- 
sion. — Clerk of Session. — A Lion in London. — J. H. Frere, Canning, 
and Joanna Baillie. — "The Melville Ballad." — "Marmion." — The 
Introductions. — Tributes to Pitt and Fox. — "Rejected Addresses." 

— The Trial Scene. — Jeffrey's Critique — Philip Freneau. — Edition 

of Dryden.— Morritt of Rokeby. — At Home 131 

CHAPTER X. 

"Quarterly Review "established. — Scott a Publisher. — William Gilford. 

— John Ballantyne. — Scott lionized in London. — Visit to Loch Kat- 
rine. — Byron's Satire. — Writing for Money. — The Theatre. — John 
Kemble, Mrs. Siddons, Terry, C. M. Young. — Joanna Baillie's Play. 

— Scott's Social Habits. — High Jinks. — Bibacity on the Bench.— 
Miss Seward's Bequests. — " Lady of the Lake " published . . .151 

CHAPTER XI. 

Loch Katrine and the Trosachs. — The Knight of Snowdoun. — Haroun 
Alraschid. — Burns and Joanna Baillie. — " The Lady of the Lake" in 
Lisbon. — Tour to the Hebrides. — "Waverley" again condemned. — 
Scott's Ain Bairns. — "Vision of Don Roderick." — Lady Wellington. 

— Imitation of Crabbe. — Increase of Income. — Purchase of Abbots- 
ford. — Cottage and Castle. — Social Position. — The Actors and the 
Poet 163 

CHAPTER XII. 

« Childe Harold." — " Bridal of Triermain." — " Rokeby." — " The Giaour." 

— Lord Byron. — "Ariosto of the North." — Wellington, Davy, and 
Watt. — Removal to Abbotsford. — The Future Castle. — Voyage 
North. — The Lighthouse Commission. — "Lord of the Isles." — 
O'Connell's Quotation. — "Field of Waterloo." — " Harold the Daunt- 
less."— "Sultan of Serendib." — John Kemble's Retirement. — Paro- 
dists: Paulding, the Smiths, Colman, and Moore. — The Laureateship 
declined 182 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Novel-Reading and Novel- Writing. — Prose Fictions before Scott. — " Wa- 
verley" resumed and published. — Authorship concealed. — Suspicion 
points to Scott. — Lighthouse Voyage. —Thomas Scott. — Miss Edge- 
worth's Lost Letter, — aiiss Mitford's Criticism. — Dugald Stewart . 202 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Abbotsford. — "Guv Mannering." — Origin of the Story. — Annesley Peer- 
age.— Joseph Train. — The Cavern Scene. — Visit to London. — The 
Prince Regent. — Carlton-house Hospitality. — Checkmated for Once. 
—Intimacy with Byron. — Dagger and Vase. — Stolen Autograph . . 224 



CONTENTS. XI 



CHAPTER XY. PAGE. 
Anti-Bonapartism. — Visit to Waterloo. — Paris and London. — Intro- 
duced to Wellington. — Farewell to Byron. — "The Field of Water- 
loo."— Pennon of Bellendon. — "The Antiquary." — Miss Wardour's 
Peril. — Pharos Loquitur. — "Black Dwarf " and " Old Mortality." — 
Jedediah Cleishbotham of Gandercleugh. — Claverhouse. — The Er- 
mine in View. — Expansion of Abbotsford. — The Handsel. — Huntley 
Burn 240 

CHAPTER XVI. 

"Knickerbocker." — Henry Brevoort. — Scott's New-England Tracts. — 
Washington Irving at Abbotsford. — Parlor Sketch. — Other American 
Visitors : Edward Everett, George Ticknor, J. Q. Cogswell, G. Stuart 
Newton, Charles R. Leslie. — Miss Coutts. — John Inman's Reminis- 
cences.— S. G. Goodrich. — J. Feuimore Cooper. — Brockden Brown . 258 

CHAPTER XVII. 
" Rob Roy " published. — Wordsworth's Poem. — The Novel Terry-Qed. — 
Miickay's Bailie Nicol Jarvie. — Scott at the Play. — Finding the 
Scottish Regalia, — Lockhart introduced to Scott. — Christopher North. 

— " The Clialdee Manuscript." — " Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk." — 
The Author's Den in Edinburgh. — " Heart of Mid- Lothian" published. 

— Ballantyne's Readinj?. — Original of Jeanie Deans. — House-heating 
at Abbotsford. — Baronetcy oti'ered. — Profitable Copyright Remain- 
ders 273 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Tl»e Ettrick Shepherd. — Death of Buccleugh. — Authorship by Dictation. 

— " The Bride of Lammermoor. " — Stephanoff the Painter. — " Legend 
of Montrose." — Walter Scott in the Army. — " Peter's Letters to his 
Kinsfolk." — Death of his Mother. — "Ivanhoe." — Rebecca and Row- 
ena. — " The Monastery." — Capt. Clutterbuckof Kennequhair. — " The 
Abbot." — Mary, Queen of Scots. — Portrait by Lawrence. — Bust by 
Chantrey. — Receives a Baronetcy. — Miss Scott married to Lockhart. 

— Miss Edgeworth's Tribute 286 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Prosperity and Happiness. — Abbotsford Hospitality. — University Honors. 

— The Lockharts at Chiefswood. — Dr. Wollaston and Sir Humphry 
Davy. — " Novelists' Library." — Archdeacon Williams. — Presidency 
of the Royal. Society of Edinburgh. — " Kenilworth " published. — 
Historical Pen- Portraits. — Remarkable Anachronisms. — Royal So- 
ciety of Literature. — Death of John Ballantyne. — Secret Charities.— 
Coronation of George IV 302 

CHAPTER XX. 

Who wrote the Waverley Novels ? — Scott, Thomas Scott, Lord Kinedder, 
Lord Cranstoun, Dugald Stewart, Henry Mackenzie, Sir Adam Fer- 
gusson, Mrs. Hamilton, Mrs. Brunton, Dr. Greenfield, Lord Byron? 

— Adolphus's Letters to Richard Heber. — Solution of the Mystery . 314 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Lady Scott and Tom Purdie. — Progress of Abbotsford. — Constable's 
Great Projects. — " The Pirate."— B'urther Sale of Copyrights.— 
Julian Youn^. — Scott's "Nonsense-Books." — Dedication of "Cain." 

— A Book ot Dramas. — "Fortunes of Nigel." — Melrose Abbey re- 
paired. — Royal Visit. — Sir Walter's Knights. — Mons Meg. — Scottish 
Peerages restored. — " Peveril of the Peak." — " Quentin Durward." — 
Roxburgh Club. — Death of Thomas Scott. — Visit of Mr. Adolphus. 

— "St. Ronan's Well." — " Redgauntlet." — Death of Lord Byron. — 
Marriage of Capt. Scott. — " Tales of the Crusaders." — Life of Napo- 
leon begun 326 



Xll CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER XXII. PAGE. 

In Ireland. — By Boyne Water. — Reception in Dublin. — County-Wick- 
low Scenery. — Irish Wit. — Edgewortlitown. — At Killarney. — "The 
Athens of Ireland." — Portrait by Maclise. — Scene atFermoy. — A full- 
dress Interview. — Lockhart, Maria Edgeworth, and Anne Scott . .351 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

Lockhart's Removal to London. — Thomas Moore at Abbotsford. — Scotch 
Fairies. — The Cluricaune. — Scott and Moore at the Theatre. — Tom 
Purdie takes Advice. — Scott begins a Diary. — Panic of 1825. — Failure 
of Constable and Ballantyne. — Scott becomes Liable. — In the Hands 
of Trustees. — Death of Lady Scott. — "Woodstock" published. — 
Visits to London and Paris. — "Letters of Malachi Malagrowther." — 
Paying otf the Debt 368 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

Large Profits of Scott's Authorship. — Cost of Abbotsford. — Description 
of the Mansion. — Ancient Relics. — Portico, Hall, Drawing-Room, 
Dining- Room, Armory, Library, Study, Breakfast-Parlor. — Portraits, 
Relics, and Curiosities. — Ways of the House. — Mr. Cadeli clears 
off the Debts. — Present Ownership. — Miss Mary Morrice Hope-Scott. 

— Heir Presumptive 392 

CHAPTER XXV. 

« 
Authorship of "Waverley" acknowledged. — Thirty-five in the Secret. — 
"Life of Napoleon" published. — Atiair with Gen. Gourgaud. — Com- 

f)liments from Goethe. — "Chronicles of the Canongate." — " Waver- 
ey" Copyrights. — Scott's Religious Discourses. — Greenshields the 
Sculptor. — Opus Magnum. — "Fair Maid or Pertli." — "Anne of 
Geierstein." — William Laidlaw. — " Tales of a Grandfather." — " Let- 
ters on Demonology and Witchcraft " 409 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

Retirement from the Court of Session. — Presentation of Library and 
Museum. — Maltreated at Jedburgh. — "Count Robert of Paris"and 
" Castle Dangerous." — Capt. Burns at Abbotsford. — Voyage to Italy. 

— Graham's Island. — Malta. — Naples. — Rome. — Last l?ales. — Re- 
turn to Abbotsford. — Death.— Funeral. — Autopsy . . . .431 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

Scott's Monument. — Statues, Busts, and Portraits. — Personal Peculiari- 
ties. — Shakspeare and Scott. — Horsemanship. — Singing. — Painting. 

— " Waverley " Manuscripts. — Dramatic Adaptations. — Character of 
his Works 452 



Sir "Walter Scott. 



CHAPTER I. 

The Romance of his Life.— Genius and Education. — Self-Teaching. — Legend 
and Song. — Historical Element in his Writings. — Creative Power. — Popu- 
larity. — Abbotsford. — Honor Saved, and Life Lost. — The Romancist at 
Home. 

1771 — 1832. 

OF all the romances, in poetry or prose, which 
Walter Scott produced between 1796, when 
his first translations from Biirger appeared, to 1831, 
when " Count Robert of Paris " was published, none 
was more remarkable than the story of his own life. 
Scott, more than any other writer, realized the fanci- 
ful idea that every man has a double nature. In the 
present century, he displayed a luxuriance, an afflu- 
ence, of imagination, far greater than any rival had 
exhibited ; and '^ the spell o'er hearts," which is said 
to be the actor's peculiar faculty, was his through 
a more extended reign than other monarchs of Par- 
nassus had ever enjoyed. His genius was largely 
directed by circumstances ; but his character, strongly 
individualized, was mainly formed by himself. Na- 
ture had liberally endowed his mind ; but, as one of 
his humble friends said, '' he had built himself up," 
almost from infancy, by self-cultivation ; and, when 
the opportunity came, he was found capable of seiz- 
1 1 



2 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

ing and improving it. His childhood Avas a period of 
bodily suffering, so prolonged and acute, that he 
received his education only by fits and starts, and 
had no chance of fair competition with boys of his 
own age and standing. Thus he was backward in 
the routine of his school-studies, even while he was 
storing his mind with varied knowledge of a higher 
character. At the moment when the professor of 
Greek reproved his positive disinclination to learn 
the language of Homer, he had voluntarily made 
himself familiar with French, Italian, and Spanish, 
which were not in the school curriculum ; and when 
he was a law-student, kept close at work in tran- 
scribing official documents, he also was acquiring a 
knowledge of the noble German language, — familiar 
to few practised men of letters even of that time. 
Walter Scott, in truth, was a student all his life. 
He achieved great successes, but had taken great 
pains to prepare himself for them. 

Sprung from the middle class in Scotland, — a 
country where the peasantry honor respectable line- 
age, even in the persons of men of fallen fortunes, — 
Scott had the advantage of being kin to a numerous 
line of namesakes, scattered over the south-eastern 
border counties ; of being able to claim cousinship, 
remote or near, not only with " the bold Buccleugh," 
himself a Scott, with ducal estates literally stretch- 
ing from sea to sea, across the whole south of Scot- 
land, but also with many others, who were called 
"lairds" while they retained their own estates, how- 
ever small, and were " laborers " or " herds," according 
to circumstances, when they worked for others. In his 
own way, the herd was as independent as the laird, 
and the laird as independent as the noble. What is 
called clanship was the connecting link. This created 
an equalizing feeling, which levelled the barriers of 
station and caste. The peer would greet the peas- 



THE STORY OF HIS LIFE. 3 

ant, when they met, with a kind and natural cour- 
tesy ; and the peasant would converse with the noble 
with a respect Avhich was tinctured with familiarity, 
feeling, with Burns, that 

" The rank is but the guinea's stamp : 
A man's a man for a' that." 

Walter Scott, who passed many years of his life in 
the counties of Selkirk and Roxburgh, had made 
himself at home among the rural population, who 
knew the boy well. Most probably, even then they 
could trace back his pedigree far beyond any period 
then within his own knowledge. From the lips of 
ancient crones, intelligent shepherds, educated plough- 
men, and bright-eyed lassies, he heard many a ballad 
of border chivalry, of passionate love, of tearful 
sorrow, of ruthless wrong, of deep revenge. His 
memory retained these lays; and his persevering 
curiosity eagerly inquired into the traditions and the 
history upon which they were founded. There was 
ever a kindly feeling at the cottage fireside for the 
intelligent boy, whose lameness, if he lived to man- 
hood, would probably prevent his engaging in the 
active business of life. 

The years rolled on, and he had to return to his 
birthplace, — that Edinburgh, formerly the seat of 
royal rule, which, in the enthusiasm of ajffection, 
he once addressed as 

" Mine own romantic town." 

There the springs of health were renewed ; and the 
boy was able to join with wild delight in the athletic 
games and exercises of his age, ever and anon, as 
time crept on, feeling the strong impulse to obtain 
that knowledge of books which would place him on 



4 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

a level, at least in one respect, with his fellow-stu- 
dents. With one chosen friend, he would ascend the 
Calton Hill, then, in a manner, out of the city ; or 
climb up Arthur's Seat, which towers above it ; or, in 
the grassy vale of St. Leonards, read books of romance 
or history ; or sometimes, throwing the volume down, 
weave strange stories, like an improvisatore, to de- 
light his admiring companion ; or, pacing slowly 
through the ancient halls of Holyrood Palace, gaze 
on the pictured faces which were supposed to repre- 
sent the ancient Scottish kings ; or, in hushed awe, 
silently steal into the very bed-chamber of Mary 
Stuart, which remains precisely as she left it ; or, in 
the cabinet where Rizzio was slain, see the dark 
marks of his blood, which popular belief still declares 
to be ineffaceable. Edinburgh is a city of legends 
and traditions ; and none knew it and them more 
thoroughly than Scott. 

After he had quitted college, where his course of 
study had been extremely desultorj', — for he read 
every thing except what was set down in the regular 
programme,- — he was apprenticed to his father, a 
Writer of the Signet. The family property in the 
country, though not large, constituted a lairdship ; 
and, hitherto, the army, the navy, and (more rarely) 
the church had received the younger sons. Scott's 
father was the first who had condescended to become 
a lawyer. If Scott himself had not been lame from 
infancy, he would almost certainly have become a 
soldier. His tastes, wishes, and feelings Avere in- 
tensely military. He grew, ere his legal servitude was 
ended, into vigorous manhood, and was a skilful and 
fearless horseman ; but his physical defect, which 
compelled him at most times to have the assistance 
of a sturdy stick, disqualified him for the army. 
After he had become emhient, his mother used to 
speak of his infirmity as a blessing ; adding, that but 



THE STORY OF HIS LIFE. 5 

ior it he would have been a soldier, and might have 
fallen in battle. 

From his sixteenth year, until he married, in his 
twenty-sixth, Walter Scott spent most of his leisure 
hours in wandering through the romantic scenes 
familiar to him in his childhood, and in visiting most 
of the places in his native land memorable in history, 
song, or legend. He continued to collect the relics 
of ancient poetry, which he regarded so highly ; and 
his means then being limited, and chiefly devoted to 
the purchase of old books, he was content to live, in 
his wanderings through the country, in a homely 
manner among the peasantr}^ — particularly during his 
annual visits to Liddesdale, a pastoral district, with 
remains of the castles of the old border chiefs, and 
many stories about them. There were no inns and 
few roads in this district, but a great deal of hospi- 
tality. Scott made himself at home among the sim- 
ple inhabitants, who knew little of the outer workl, 
and were charmed with his genial manners and famil- 
iar anecdotes. Years afterwards, when he was a 
renowned author, and, what they thought much 
higher of, sheriff of the county of Selkirk, one of his 
former companions said, " He spoke to every man as 
if he were one of his family." There may have been 
the pride of condescension in this ; but that species of 
pride is sometimes akin to virtue. 

From these sources came, first, a few imitations of 
the ancient ballads ; next, that great work (literally a 
labor of love ; for it was not expected the utmost pos- 
sible sale would do more than repay the expense of 
production), '' The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border ; " 
after that, a series of national narrative poems, which 
at once gave their author unprecedented popularity, 
and were produced with so little apparent effort, that 
they closely resembled improvisation ; and lastly, in 
company with heavy labors of editorship, criticism, 



6 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

biography, and history, " The Waverley Novels," which 
founded a new order of fiction, — the historical ro- 
mance. These novels, with the exception of " Guy 
Mannering," *' The Pirate," " The Black Dwarf," and 
" The Bride of Lammermoor," are historical : even 
" The Antiquary " includes scenes arising out of the 
expectation of the French invasion of England. The 
series may be said to commence, chronologically, to- 
wards the close of the eleventh century, — in the time 
of William Rufus, — and to terminate on the eve of the 
present century. The author varied his scenes from 
Great Britain to France, Germany, Switzerland, 
Greece, Turkey, Syria, and India. He wrote of for- 
eign lands and peoples as if he had lived among 
them, and drew materials for romance from each. 

Independent of the historical characters of note 
whom he has presented in his poems, Walter Scott 
reproduced as many in his novels as would suffice to 
fill a gallery. In " Ivanhoe," we have Richard the 
Lion-hearted, false-hearted John, and Robin Hood ; in 
" The Talisman," Richard again appears, in company 
with Saladin ; in " Count Robert of Paris " are Alex- 
ius Commenus, Emperor of Greece, and that fair 
pedant, Anna Commena, his daughter ; in " Castle 
Dangerous," we have " the Black Douglas ; " in 
'' The Fair Maid of Perth," Robert the Third of 
Scotland, his court, and family ; in " Quentin Dur- 
ward," Louis the Eleventh of France, Charles the 
Bold of Burgundy, the brave Dunois, Cardinal Balue, 
Philip des Comines, and Oliver le Dain ; in '' Anne 
of Geierstein," Louis of France and Charles of Bur- 
gundy, with Margaret of Anjou, Edward the Fourth, 
and Richard the Third of England, Rend the min- 
strel-monarch of Provence, and the Emperor Sigis- 
mund of Austria; in " The Monastery " and " The Ab- 
bot," the Regent Murray, Mary Stuart, the Lady of 
Loclileven and George Douglas, bold Ruthven, Lady 



THE STORY OF HIS LIFE. 7 

Mary Fleming, and courageous Catherine Seyton ; in 
*' Kenilworth," Elizabeth Tudor, with crafty Cecil, 
Leicester and Amy Robsart, Shakspeare and Spenser, 
Sussex and Walsingham, and gallant Sir Walter 
Raleigh; in "The Fortunes of Nigel," James the 
First, Prince Charles (afterwards "• the Martyr "), 
Buckingham, and Master George Heriot the Edin- 
burgh goldsmith ; in "A Legend of Montrose," the 
Earl of Montrose, Prince Rupert, Argyle, and Bur- 
leigh ; in " Woodstock," Charles the Second, Oliver 
Cromwell and his daughter, Buckingham, Rochester, 
Sir Charles Sedley, the Marquis of Montrose, General 
Monk, Shakspeare, Ben Jonson, Sir William Dav- 
enant. John Milton, Patrick Carey the poet. Queen 
Eleanor, Rosamond Clifford, and the patriarchal roy- 
alist Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley; in " Peveril of the 
Peak," Charles the Second and Queen Catherine, 
Queen Henrietta Maria, James the Second and his 
daughter (afterwards Queen Anne), Ormond, Shaftes- 
bury, the fair Duchess of Richmond, La Belle Louise 
de Queronaille and Nell Gwynne, Sir Edmondsbury 
Godfrey and Sir Geoffrey Hudson, Villiers Duke of 
Buckingham, Elkanah Settle, Thomas Chiffinch and 
Titus Gates, the Countess and Earl of Derby, Chief- 
Justice Scroggs, and Colonel Thomas Blood, who at- 
tempted to steal the king's crown out of the Tower 
of London, and was pensioned for his audacity, the 
faithful keeper who prevented the theft being left to 
starve ; in '' The Betrothed," Henry the Second of 
England, Richard and John Plantagenet, and Sir 
Hugo de Lacy ; in " Old Mortality," John Balfour of 
Burleigh, Archbishop Sharpe, the Duke of Monmouth, 
Claverhouse, and the Duke of Lauderdale ; in " Rob 
Roy," the famous raider from whom the tale is 
named ; in '' The Heart of Mid Lothian," Queen Caro- 
line and her court, the Duke of Argyle, and Captain 
Porteus ; in " Waverley," the Young Chevalier, Col- 



8 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

onel Gardiner, and the butcher-duke of Cumberland ; 
in "• The Surgeon's Daughter," Hyder Ali and his 
son Tij^poo Saib ; in " Redgauntlet," the Chevalier 
Charles Stuart, Miss Walkinshaw, and " Black Colin 
Campbell." 

The original creations of Scott's own genius were 
even more numerous than these : perhaps it would 
be more accurate to say, without detracting from his 
invention, that he scarcely ever drew any character, 
not historical, without having some one in his mind 
whom he had met, or read or heard of. The intro- 
duction of small traits and peculiarities gave a marked 
individuality to the various fictitious persons whom 
he presented. When he drew from history, he seized 
the salient points which contemporaries had noticed, 
and freely used them for his purpose. The general 
accuracy of this class of characters is freely admitted 
by his most severe critics. His poetic temperament 
invested the pictures of memory with the glow of 
imagination ; yet he rarely lost sight of Nature. 
Hence his descriptions of scenery have breadth as 
well as detail, and are accurate as well as vivid. 

His poetic temperament, which almost justified him 
in believing that, from an ascending series of successes 
as a writer, as he told Wordsworth, he could easily 
make any amount of money that he required, made 
him resolve to become a lord of the soil, at vast cost, 
and on a large scale, and plan a residence for himself. 
He was not content with a mansion, but erected that 
singular imitation of the olden style, which as it 
stands on the estate of Abbotsford, overlooking his 
well-beloved Tweed, well deserves the designation 
of "a romance in stone and lime." This stately 
dwelling, which is estimated to have cost thirty 
thousand pounds sterling, may be said to exhibit a 
great deal of the genius of its designer. It united 
the picturesque, castellated architecture of a remote 



THE STORY OF HIS LIFE. \) 

period, Avitli the elegance, the convenience, and the 
comfort, of modern times. Abbotsford is as charac- 
teristic of Walter Scott as " Waverley " or " The 
Antiquary." 

This gifted man was distinguished as much for his 
amiable character and unaffected manners as for his 
great genius. He was charitable without ostentation, 
delicate in the manner of giving, liberal in the value 
of the gift. He often did Idndnesses which occupied 
his mind, engaged his time, and imposed considerable 
trouble upon him. It was his desire to live in charity 
with all men ; and he passed through life without a 
single personal quarrel. He ever avoided what is 
called '' a paper war," and, when severely dealt with 
by the critics (which was not often), did not chal- 
lenge the verdict, but, if he saw that it was a correct 
decision, quietly altered in the next edition whatever 
had been condemned, and took care not again to run 
into a like error. In his own criticisms, nothing of ill 
nature is to be found. He was courteous as well as 
candid, and, in pointing out faults, rather suggested 
than reproved. He noticed all the good points of a 
work, and quoted the finest passages. 

In the discharge of his official duties, which Avere 
more responsible than exacting, Walter Scott was 
punctual, precise, and laborious, as became a lawyer 
of the old school. From the time when his writings 
made him famous, he was looked up to by his native 
city with pride and affection, particularly selected for 
honor on public occasions, placed at the head of nu- 
merous public institutions, and relied upon in all 
cases of emergency. Did "the fair city" desire to 
present an address to the Sovereign, it was Scott 
who was solicited to compose it. Was a distinguished 
personage to receive a tribute of public gratitude, 
admiration, or respect, it was Scott who was expected 
to preside, because no one dispensed the honors so 



10 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

gracefully. When more than a century and a half 
had passed without any British sovereign visiting 
Edinburgh, and George the Fourth came to see his 
Scottish subjects, the whole arrangements for his re- 
ception and entertainment were confidently left to Sir 
Walter Scott; and it is doubtful, so successful was 
the result, which was most satisfied and grateful, the 
monarch or the people. For quarter of a century, 
Scott was the most popular man in Britain : his fame 
extended to foreign countries, and was greatest in 
our own. His visits to London were ovations : 
from palace to parlor, all were proud to receive him, 
and to listen to his words. Never was author more 
enthusiastically lionized, — not even Byron in his brief 
season of personal triumph, — and never was author 
more modest in his popularity. He was unspoiled by 
great success. 

From the time that his reputation was established 
by the success of his first great poem, " The Lay of 
the Last Minstrel," hastily written, at the request 
of a distinguished lady whose friendship he prized, 
Scott was the " observed of all observers " by all 
who visited Edinburgh. In times gone by, pilgrim- 
ages have been made by enthusiastic piety to the 
shrines of those who had won a saintly reputation 
by pure and pious lives ; in later days, places iden- 
tified with the illustrious dead, who have served man- 
kind by word or deed, are visited by devoted admir- 
ers, — just as Mount Vernon and Stratford-upon-Avon 
have, in a manner, become hallowed ground : but it 
was reserved for Scott to receive a sort of canoniza- 
tion during his lifetime. The scenes which he had 
described in song and story became increasingly 
crowded, year after year, by lovers of his writings. 
No stranger in Edinburgh thought that he had seen 
all its attractions, until he had a glance, at least, at 
"the Ariosto of the North," — at the "Great Magi- 



THE STORY OF HIS LIFE. 11 

cian," from whose mind, with the proverbial pro- 
fuseness of genius, were constantly welling out the 
productions which charmed while they instructed, 
and which, in the guise of fiction, also conveyed 
lessons of sagacity and truth. To return home from 
Scotland without being able to describe, from per- 
sonal observation, what manner of man " the Great 
Unknown " was, argued a want of taste which was 
certain to lower the tourist in the estimation of his 
friends. Those who had not opportunity or ability 
to obtain speech of the illustrious author would 
visit the Court of Session, in which, during the legal 
terms, he daily sat, — an official immediately below the 
judges, — and gaze at that stalwart, shrewd-looking 
man with the towering forehead, who, as his pen rap- 
idly passed over the paper, with 

" The ease 
Whicli marks security to please," 

might even then be composing what the world would 
not willingly let die. It is known that the gathering- 
song, " Pibroch of Donald Dhu," which has a won- 
drous rapidity and action, was dashed off " at a 
heat," while Jeffrey was making a vehement speech 
in court ; Scott, in his clerk's seat, eagerly listening 
until the tempest of eloquence literally drove him 
into song. 

To all who had the slightest claim upon it, and to 
very many who had none, the hospitaUty of Abbots- 
ford was extended through a series of years, with a 
liberality scarcely paralleled among the possessors of 
vast hereditary wealth, who, as regarded expenditure, 
need take no heed for the morrow. When Scott 
became a landed proprietor, it seemed as if he had 
resolved to keep open house. The public did not 
balk such a purpose. His son-in-law states, that 
from the time of his removal to Abbotsford in 1812, 



12 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

until the commercial catastrophe of 182G, Scott en- 
tertained at least one-sixth of the entire nobility of 
Great Britain and Ireland. To sustain the enormous 
expense of this, which also involved a great waste of 
precious time, — to him at once health and money, — 
the labor of one head and one hand had to provide. 

When worldly trouble smote him severely in his 
closing years (and he bore it manfully), the lord of 
Abbotsford had to learn, like others, that to win for- 
ture is one thing, to retain it is another. He had 
received as compensation for his writings a sum 
much larger, in the aggregate, than, up to that time, 
had ever been paid for literary labor, — ^a greater 
amount, I believe, than even Mr. Dickens obtained 
during his remarkable career. Sir Walter Scott, 
who could so well advise others, who knew so well 
how to regulate the affairs of others, who was at 
once shrewd and practical, was not a man of business 
for himself. Between his publisher and his printer, 
he became responsible for large debts of theirs, of 
the existence of which he was ignorant. In 182G, 
at the advanced age of fifty-five, after a life of unpre- 
cedented mental labor, he found himself involved to 
the enormous extent of a hundred and twenty thou- 
sand pounds. With a chivalrous feeling which the 
world has always honored, he resolved to liquidate 
the debt by his pen alone, feeling, that, 

" Come what come may, 
Time and tke hour runs through the roughest day," 

and doggedly sat down to do it. He labored through 
five weary years, until at last, when his purpose was 
nearly accomplished, the strain proved too great, and 
he was struck down by apoplectic paralysis. The 
Government, widely at variance with him in politics, 
had the noble grace to offer to clear his embarrass- 
ments out of the public treasury ; but he gratefully 



THE STORY OF HIS LIFE. <. 13 

declined. He sought renewal of health in the south 
of Europe, but returned home to die. At the age 
of sixty-one, body and mind were alike prostrated ; 
and he breathed his last at home, to the murmur of 
the gently-rolling Tweed, which he had loved so well. 
He fulfilled his promise, — all his liabilities being paid 
off by his pen, — at the cost of a life so valuable to 
literature, to society, to the kindred who so dearly 
loved that great and tender-hearted man, and to fair 
humanity itself. 

The domestic relations at Abbotsford were true and 
tender, genial and loving. Few men were so free 
from vice as Scott; few had a deeper trust in the 
mercy and love of the Almighty. At the close, when 
he was passing into the valley of the shadow of death, 
— when for a moment his mind awoke to a fleeting 
consciousness and memory, — his few parting words to 
his son-in-law conveyed the lesson, more impressive 
and touching than a homily, that nothing but religion 
would give him comfort on the death-bed. It might 
be said, — 

" He taught us how to live, and (oh, too high 
The price for knowledge ! ) taught us how to die." 

On the occasion of his centenary, w^hen the mem- 
ory of Walter Scott Avill be socially and publicly 
honored in every land wherein is spoken the language 
in which he wrote, I here essay to tell the story of 
liis life. Its renown was won, not in camp, senate, 
or forum, but in the wide realm of exhaustless fancy. 
In his perfect work was realized Milton's true saying, 
tliat 

" Peace hath her victories, 
No less renowned than war.'* 

His genius has enriched the literature of the world, 
and at the same time given a new direction to 



14 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

thought and imairination. Among those who may 
be said to have created, early in the present century, 
a revival of letters in England, Scott was in the van, 
and became the most renowned. His poems obtained 
a great popularity, and produced a host of imitators, 
among whom Lord Byron may be included ; and, when 
he found his attraction and his poetical powers dimin- 
ishing, his mind took another direction, and won 
higlier triumphs than before, by producing the his- 
torical romance. The man was so identified with the 
author, that the story of his life and of his writings is 
one and the same. In the present volume, I shall re- 
late that story, avoiding diffuseness, rejecting all but 
well-ascertained facts, and stating many particulars 
within my own knowledge and recollection. 




CHAPTER II. 

A.nco8try. — Scotts and Riithorfords. — The Flower of Yarrow. — Scott's Fa- 
tlier. — A Laraester. — Infancy at Sandy-Knowe. — Smallbolme Tower.— 
At IJath. — Poets as Readers. — Early Studies. — .Jacobite Traditions. — 
Monkbarns and Ensign Dalgetty. — Tower of Memory. 

1771 — 1778. 

WALTER SCOTT, who was born in the old 
town of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, 
on the 15th of August, 1771, and died at Abbotsford, 
in the county of Roxburgh, at the age of sixty-one, 
was third son of Mr. Walter Scott, W.S. (These 
initials indicate the second grade in the legal profes- 
sion in Scotland ; the others being advocate or barris- 
ter, and attorney or solicitor, as at the English and 
Irish bar.) In a fragment of autobiography, com- 
posed in 1808, discovered in an old cabinet at Abbots- 
ford, and coming down to the year 1792, at which 
time he was called to the bar, Scott gives a rather 
extended account of his family, prefaced with the 
statement : " Every Scottishman has a pedigree. It 
is a national prerogative, as unalienable as his pride 
and his poverty. My birth was neither distinguished 
nor sordid. According to the prejudices of my coun- 
try, it was esteemed gentle^ as I was connected, thougli 
remotely, with ancient families, both by my father's 
and mother's side." His grandfather, a cadet of 
the family of Scott, very numerous in the southern 
or border counties of Scotland, Avas descended from 
that Scott of Harden whose fair wife long has borne 

15 



16 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i77l 

the title, in song and story, of the " Flower of Yar- 
row." After an unsuccessful attempt to obtain a 
humble living as a merchant-seaman, this grandsire 
became a tenant-farmer upon the lands of Sandy- 
Knowe, belonging to Mr. Scott of Harden. His eld- 
est son, Sir Walter's father, the first of his family 
who was bred to a town-life, duly served his time 
as apprentice to a writer to the signet, was taken 
in as a partner, and, on the death of his principal, 
succeeded to the business, in which his great simpli- 
city of character was counterbalanced by severe prob- 
ity, great shrewdness, and untiring zeal for the 
interests of his clients. Careful and prudent, he did 
not marry until he was in his thirtieth year, taking as 
"helpmeet" to himself, Anne, eldest daughter of 
Dr. John Rutherford, professor of medicine in the 
University of Edinburgh. She was maternally de- 
scended from the Swintons of Swinton. The achieve- 
ments of one of this family, higlily commended in the 
vivid and graphic pages of Froissart, supplied materi- 
als for the dramatic sketch of " Halidon Hill," the 
time being in the early part of the fifteenth century. 
Through his mother. Sir Walter Scott also claimed 
affinity with William, Earl of Sterling, the poet, who 
called Drummond of Hawthornden and Ben Jonson 
his friends. 

Scott is the family name of the ducal house of 
Buccleugh ; but, lilvC a true clansman. Sir Walter 
acknowledged Scott of Harden (his own kinsman, 
who established his claim to the ancient barony 
of Polwarth in 1835) as chieftain of all the Scotts 
in North Britain. Wat of Harden, who figures in 
" The Lay of the Last Minstrel," was husband of 
the bonny Flower of Yarrow, of whom it is related, 
that, when the last bullock which he had provided 
from the English pastures was consumed, she placed 
upon her table a dish, which, when the cover was 



^T. I.] PARENTAGE. 17 

lifted, was found to contain only a pair of clean spurs, 
as a hint to the hungry company — moss-troopers of 
Harden, and followers of the chief — that they must 
bestir themselves for their next dinner. For the 
most part, the Scotts were warm adherents of 
the Stuart dynasty after the accession of James to 
the throne of the Tudors. The grandson of the fair 
and strong-minded Flower of Yarrow bore the name of 
'* Beardie," from the then unusual practice which he 
adopted, after the manner of Samson, of leaving his 
hair untouched by razor or scissors, in token of his 
regret for the banished house. Many of the Scotts 
had been " out," as it was called, against the Hano- 
verian ruler in 1715 and 1745 ; and thus Walter Scott, 
mixing freely with his kin in childhood, youth, and 
early manhood, becajne familiar with their adventures 
as partisans of the prince " over the water," and in- 
voluntarily became, even at an early age, a Jacobite in 
sentiment. In maturer years, he exhibited in his own 
person the somewhat curious anomaly of being a 
warm adherent of the dethroned Stuarts and a very 
loyal subject of the reigning dynasty. It was doubt- 
ful whether his regard for ''bonny Prince Charlie," 
long since in his foreign grave, was as great as his de- 
votion to George the Fourth, who treated him with 
distinguished and even familiar kindness. 

The autobiography already referred to says, " My 
father and mother had a very numerous family, — no 
fewer, I believe, than twelve children, of whom many 
were highly promising ; though only five survived very 
early youth." The father, eldest son of a Scott of 
Sandy-Knowe, chose wisely in selecting the particular 
department of the law intrusted to writers of the 
signet, who at that time, and even largely to this 
hour, flourished by their administration of the prop- 
erty of the numerous class known as squires in Eng- 
land and lairds in Scotland. Owing to the great 

2 



18 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l77l 

number of his kindred scattered through the counties 
of Selkirk and Roxburgh, the W. S. who was confi- 
dential business-man to most of them obtained a 
handsome income. His character is confessedly 
sketched in that of Mr. Fairford the lawyer, in 
*' Redgauntlet." He was so fortunate as to have a 
wife who had received, as became the daughter of an 
eminently learned physician, the best education then 
bestowed upon young gentlewomen in Scotland. 

Four sons and two daughters, born to this " comfor- 
table couple " between 1759 and 1766, perished in 
infancy. Some years later, six other children came 
to supply the void. These were five sons and one 
daughter. Walter was the third of this family after- 
math ; but the race could not have been very vig- 
orous, he alone reaching the limits of old age. His 
father died in April, 1799, aged seventy, broken down 
in mind and body by a series of paralytic attacks. His 
mother survived her husband more than twenty years. 
Having thus stated, as concisely as was consistent 
with clearness, some leading facts relating to Sir 
Walter Scott's ancestors and immediate family, I now 
proceed to tell the story of his youth. 

(Walter Scott was born on Aug. 15, 1771. He 
says, *' I was an uncommonly healthy child, but had 
nearly died in consequence of my first nurse being ill 
of a consumption, — a circumstance which she chose to 
conceal, though to do so was murder to both herself 
and me. She went privately to consult Dr. Black, 
the celebrated professor of chemistry, who put my 
father on his guard. The woman was dismissed, and 
I was consigned to a healthy peasant, who [1808] 
is still alive to boast of her laddie being what she 
calls a grand gentleman. I showed every sign of 
health and strength until I was about eighteen months 
old. One night, I have been often told, I showed 
great reluctance to be caught and put to bed, and, 



^T. I.] LAMENESS. 19 

after being chased about the room, was apprehended, 
and consigned to my dormitory with some difficulty. 
It was the last time I was to show such personal 
agility. In the morning, I was discovered to be af- 
fected with the fever which often accompanies the 
cutting of large teeth. It held me three days: on 
the fourth, when they went to bathe me as usual, 
they discovered that I had lost the power of my right 
leg." The closest anatomical examination failed to 
ascertain the nature and extent of the injury. There 
was no apparent strain or dislocation ; and various 
topical applications were ineffectual, during several 
years. At last, on the recommendation of Dr. Ru- 
therford, his grandfather, the boy was taken to Sandy- 
Knowe, where his father had been born. It was 
hoped, rather than believed, that free exercise in the 
open air, and good country diet, might have a curative 
effect. 

Sandy-I\jiowe, five or six miles from the ancient 
town of Kelso, and nestling at the foot of a line of 
crags which push through an ungrateful soil, was a 
farm-house. On the highest of these crags stands a 
narrow fortalice, once inhabited by border moss- 
troopers, but now a ruin. This is the Tower of 
Smailholme, which was not dismantled, nearly a cen- 
tury back, when Walter Scott, then three years old, 
first knew it. This ruined tower, the scene of one 
of Scott's earliest ballads, — '' The Eve of St. John," 
— looks over Mertoun, the principal seat of the Scotts 
of Harden, over " Tweed's fair flood, and all down 
Teviotdale," and, among other places of note, over 
the venerable Abbey of Dryburgh, within whose pre- 
cincts rests all that was mortal of the poet and his 
wife, of his daughters, and others of the family. 

In 1832, when Scott died, there yet remained in 
the neighborhood of Sandy-Knowe two aged women, 
who remembered when the boy arrived there, in the 



"20 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i774 

spring of 1774, before lie had completed his third 
year. One of these reported him to have been '' a 
sweet-tempered bairn, — a darling with all about the 
house." In that locality at that time, there were 
more sheep than kine ; and the young ewe-milkers 
used to carry him on their backs among the flock. 
He was quick, " and soon kenned every sheep and 
lamb by headmark as well as any of them." He par- 
ticularly attached himself to an aged " hind," or 
shepherd, who was chief in charge of the flocks, and 
would rest by his side, listening to old stories and 
snatches of border-song, as the old man lay on the 
velvet sward, watching the flock. Scott told his 
friend, Mr. Skene of Rubislaw, when spending a 
summer-day in his old age among these well-remem- 
bered crags, that he delighted to roll about on the 
grass all day long in the midst of the flock, and that 
the sort of fellowship he thus formed with the sheep 
and lambs had impressed his mind with a degree of 
affectionate feeling towards them which had lasted 
throughout life. There is a story of his haying been 
forgotten one day among the knolls, when a thunder- 
storm came on ; and liis aunt, suddenly recollecting 
his situation, and running out to bring him home, is 
said to have found him lying on his back, clapping 
his hands at the lightning, and crying out, " Bonny, 
bonny ! " at every flash. 

For some time, the boy could only crawl about the 
house, the farm-yard, and the green valley. But it 
was at Sandy-Knowe, amid the eternal beauty of 
natural scenery, the gray rocks, the hoary ruin, the 
shifting clouds, the leafy trees, the winding river, 
the murmurs of insect-life, the gentle breath of the 
zephyr, the rushing sound of the tempest, the glory 
and greenery of summer and autumn, that, even thus 
early, he began to observe, to admire, and, uncon- 
sciously, to treasure in his memory for future days. 



^^T. 3.] AT BATH. 21 

It was there, thus early, that the consciousness of his 
being became sentient, and that his mind awoke to 
something akin to thought. The impressions thus 
obtained abode with him through hfe, and remained 
to the hist. 

In his fourth year, the boy was taken to Bath to 
try whether the use of the waters there might be of 
some advantage to his lameness. Already, indeed, 
Nature, left to herself, had gradually been recupe- 
rative. His own words are, " My health was by this 
time a good deal confirmed by the country air and 
the influence of that imperceptible and unfatiguing 
exercise to which the good sense of my grandfather 
had subjected me ; for, when the day was fine, I was 
usually carried out, and laid down beside the old shep- 
herd, among the crags or rocks round which he fed 
his sheep. The impatience of a child soon inclined 
me to struggle with my infirmity ; and I began by 
degrees to stand, to walk, and to run. Although the 
limb affected was much shrunk and contracted, my 
general health, which was of more importance, was 
much strengthened by being frequentl}^ in the open 
air ; and, in a w^ord, I, who in a city had probably 
been condemned to hopeless and helpless decrepitude, 
Avas now a healthy, high-spirited, and, my lameness 
apart, a sturdy child, — non sine diis animosus in- 
fansr 

The journey to Bath with his maiden aunt, Miss 
Janet Scott, as his escort, was made by sea to London, 
where, during a short stay, he was taken to the Tower 
and Westminster Abbey. Twenty-five years after- 
w^ards, when he revisited them, he wrote, " I was 
astonished to find how accurate my recollections of 
these celebrated places of visitation proved to be ; and 
I have ever since trusted more implicitly to my juve- 
nile reminiscences." He remained about a year in 
Bath, where he met the venerable John Home, author 



22 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i??^ 

of "Douglas," and Capt. Robert Scott, his uncle, 
who introduced him to the Uttle amusements which 
suited his age, and, above all, to the theatre, where 
he first was charmed with the witchery of spoken 
dialogue, scenery, and dramatic costume. The play 
was " As You Like It ; " and his own naive report is, 
" I made, I believe, noise more than enough, and re- 
member being so much scandalized at the quarrel be- 
tween Orlando and his brother, in the first scene, that 
I screamed out, ' Ain't they brothers ? ' A few weeks' 
residence at home convinced me, who had, till then, 
been an only child in the house of my grandfather, 
that a quarrel between brothers was a very natural 
event." At Bath, too, above all, he went to a dame- 
school for about three months. An occasional lesson 
from his aunt supplied the rest. Afterwards, when 
a big boy, he had a few lessons at Edinburgh ; " but," 
he adds, " I never acquired a just pronunciation, nor 
could I read with much propriety." 

In explanation of this may- be adduced the fact, 
that, no doubt from early association with all sorts of 
persons in the country in his youth, who were not 
very particular in their manner of speaking, Walter 
Scott usually had a very marked Scottish pronuncia- 
tion. This, which he could, and generally did, sub- 
due, became irrepressible when he spoke with 
earnestness. He recited all poetry but his own very 
effectively. To be sure, poets rarely do justice to 
their own compositions. As Mrs. Browning has 
finely, because truly, written in " Lady Geraldine's 
Courtship," 

•' Poets ever fail in reading their own verses to their worth ; 

For the echo in you breaks upon the words which you are speak- 
ing, 

And the chariot- wheels jar in the gate through which you drive 
them forth." 



.ET. 5.] POETS AS READERS. 23 

I have heard poets — ay, and some great ones — 
read their own compositions ; and I confess that I 
wished some other persons had done it. To hear 
Coleridge, with half-closed eyes, and a measured, 
sing-song intonation, repeat that exquisite poem of 
love, beginning, 

" All thoughts, all passions, all delights, 
^Vhatever stirs this mortal frame," 

was more strange than agreeable ; for one might have 
smiled had any one but the author of the melodious 
and exquisitely-tender lines so uttered them. Southey 
would square his elbows, and, if you asked him (for 
he was chary in presenting his effusions even to pri- 
vate friends), read page after page from " Roderic " 
or " Thalaba," evidently without exhibiting any of 
tJie author's proverbial self-appreciation. Words- 
worth, on the other hand, read his compositions 
as if his desire was to make the listener believe that 
they were ordinary prose. Moore, whose musical 
utterance of his own lyrics subdued his listeners into 
silence and tears, would read them in a see-saw man- 
ner, as if he were ashamed of them, and desired to 
get rid of the task-work, and dip into a beaker of 
champagne. Lover would warble his songs like a 
bird, — only too palpably imitating, without catching, 
Moore's grace and tenderness ; but, when he tried to 
read them, his monotony was melancholy. Byron, I 
have heard from those who knew him ^ well, always 
preferred that others should read his poetry, knowing 
that his own way of doing it was the reverse of good. 
Charles Dickens, whose prose so often was poetry, 
read his own writings admirably. The art of conceal- 
ing art was exhibited, to a great degree, in his case : 
he read with a fine disdain for the practised profes- 
sional elocutionist, who impresses on his pupils the 
necessity of giving a separate and distinct action with 



24 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l776 

every word. I heard Walter Scott repeat a few lines 
of his own composition, and, with all my admiration 
for him, felt that he accentuated the wrong words, and 
failed to bring out the full meaning of the passage. 
Once, also, heard him repeat with infinite feeling 
and effect a few stanzas from one of the old bal- 
lads which he loved so well. To the poetry of others 
he could do justice, and did. Years after this, but 
before he had " shufiled off this mortal coil," I read, 
and could understand then, a passage in Sir Walter's 
letter (in Moore's Life of Lord Byron) which 
runs thus : " Lord Byron's reading did not seem to 
me to have been very extensive, either in poetry or 
history. Having the advantage of him in that re- 
spect, and possessing a good competent share of such 
reading as is little read, I was sometimes able to put 
under his eye objects which had for him the interest 
of novelty. I remember particularly repeating to him 
the fine poem of ' Hardyknute,' — an imitation of the 
old Scottish ballad, — with which he was so much af- 
fected, that some one who was in the same apartment 
asked me what I could possibly have been telling 
Byron by which he was so much agitated." 

That same ballad had been taught him before he 
was four years old ; and he used to shout forth the 
stanzas, even thus early, no matter how inconvenient 
the noise might be to the moods or ailments of some 
of his auditors. In after-years, on the blank leaf of 
his copy of Allan Ramsay's " Evergreen," in which 
the ballad is printed. Sir Walter w^rote, " ' Hardy- 
knute ' was the first poem that I ever learnt, the 
last that I shall forget." No wonder that he re- 
peated it to Byron with an earnestness and force 
which deeply affected that wayward Childe, — himself 
a monarch of song. There is an entry in Byron's 
Diary, in 1821, as follows ; " I have found out the 
seal cut on Murray's letter. It is meant for Sir Wal- 



^T. 5.] JACOBITE PREJUDICES. 25 

ter Scott ; but it does not do him justice. Scott's — 
particularly when he recites — is a very intelligent 
countenance." 

At Sandy-Knowe, after his return from Bath, he 
resumed his outdoor amusements, eagerly listening, 
now and then, by his Aunt Janet's knee, to what — 
with equal patience and kindness — she read to him 
from such books as were accessible. Among these 
Allan Ramsay's " Tea-table Miscellany" (a choice 
collection of Scottish and English poetry, which 
passed through twelve editions in half as many 
years), a strange work of fiction called " Auto- 
mathes," and, at a later period, an odd volume of 
the " Wars of the Jews," by Josephus. He was not 
very fond of reading as a task- work ; but, after he had 
acquired sufficient proficiency, that repugnance van- 
ished. He read the Bible through more than once. 

He soon became very strongly prejudiced in favor 
of the Stuart family. Listening to the songs and 
stories of the Jacobites, which abounded in that part 
of the country, and hearing descriptions from eye- 
witnesses of the cruelties exercised in the execu- 
tions at Carlisle and in the Highlands after the bat- 
tle of CuUoden, he eagerly drank in an abundance of 
facts and prejudices. The defeat at Culloden (April 
IC, 1746) was no mere tradition, like most of the 
border-legends which charmed him, but had occurred 
only thirty years before ; and many of those who 
described it, and the events which followed it, had 
themselves borne arms in the contest. As for the 
remoter past, old songs were chanted, old legends 
told, as was the custom in country-houses at that 
time, which fixed themselves in the eager memory of 
the listening boy. His grandmother, whose own rec- 
ollections carried her back to the beginning of the 
century, told him many a legend of border warfare. 
Every hill, burn, and ruin had a story and a hero ; 



26 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i778 

and one of Ms own ancestors usually figured as the 
bold and successful adventurer. Young Lochinvar, 
about whom he wrote that stirring ballad of love and 
audacity, which he made Lady Heron sing at the 
royal court in " Marmion," was not a mere poetic 
creation, but the embodiment of many a similar ad- 
venture in the far-off days when personal prowess 
won favor from the fair, and all stratagems which 
went to unite loving youth to youth were considered 
not only fair but honorable. 

" Few books, but good," was the motto of a wise 
man, when he was educating his own children. The 
supply at Sandy-Knowe was small and imperfect ; but 
it was occasionally eked out by borrowing from the 
neighboring families. Dr. Duncan, the clergyman of 
the parish, was a gentleman, who, though throughout 
life he " enjoj^ed bad health," lived to be nearly 
ninety. In his youth, he had been domestic chaplain 
to the Earl of Marchmont, ancestor of Scott of Har- 
den, now Lord Polwarth, and at that time was inti- 
mate with many illustrious characters in the Augustan 
age of Queen Anne. He had seen Pope, and de- 
lighted to talk to the lame boy, who was such an 
intelligent listener, about the men who were leaders 
in war and politics, and of those who even then were 
helping to build up the fabric of British literature. 
Within a few days of his death, in 1795, when " the 
lamester," then a stalwart man in rude health of 
mind and body, paid a visit to this reverend veteran, 
he found him correcting a " History of the Revolu- 
tion of 1688," which he left for posthumous publica- 
tion. 

In his seventh year, Walter Scott was taken to 
Preston-Pans, a few miles below Edinburgh, for sea- 
bathing. There, the scene of a noted conflict be- 
tween the Stuart and the English forces in 1745, in 
which Col. Gardiner received his death-wound, he 



^T. 7.] AT PRESTON-PANS. 27 

met with a military veteran named Dalgetty, who 
had served in all the German wars, had finally retired 
into the honorable poverty of an ensign's half-pay, 
and had settled down in the little sea burgh, because 
living there was of the cheapest. This veteran, who 
was fond of relating his military experiences, found 
'' audience few, but fitting," in the person of young 
Walter Scott, whom he took to see Gardiner's grave. 
Here, too, was Mr. George Constable, a friend of 
the family, who took very kindly to the boy, prob- 
ably because the wealthy old bachelor had a sort of 
tendresse for Aunt Janet, " who," Scott says, " was 
even then a most beautiful woman, though somewhat 
advanced in life ; " and who, '' to the close of her 
life, had the finest eyes and teeth I ever saw." Then 
and later, this gentleman, who had retired from the 
practice of the law, supplied his young friend with 
a great deal of curious information, and was the first 
who told him about Falstaff and Hotspur, and other 
characters in Shakspeare. Scott's subsequent con- 
fession was, " What idea I annexed to them, I know 
not ; but I must have annexed some, for I remember 
quite well being interested on the subject. Indeed, 
I rather suspect that children derive impulses of a 
powerful and important kind in hearing things which 
they cannot entirely comprehend, and, therefore, 
that to write doivn to children's understanding is a 
mistake : set them on the scent, and let them puzzle 
it out." Information commimicated to the youthful 
mind in an intelligible manner does not resemble 
seed that fell by the wayside, nor upon stony places, 
nor among thorns, but rather, in most cases, takes 
root in a fruitful soil, and brings forth fruit, — some 
a hundred-fold, some sixty, some thirty-fold. In 
Scott's case, what he saw, heard, read, and noticed 
in his youth, appears to have pervaded his mind to 
the close of life. 



28 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l778 

The very name of Dalgetty reminds us of the mer- 
cenary soldier, selling his sword to the highest bidder ; 
indulging in interminable reminiscences of his ex- 
periences in the German war ; invariably exhibiting 
personal courage in action, though attending rather 
too much to the victualling department; sagacious 
and prompt in counsel, when his advice as an ex- 
perienced man-at-arms was required ; and finally, 
having survived the Revolution of 1688, settling 
down — a belted knight — on his paternal estate in 
Aberdeenshire, " cruising about in that country, very 
old, very deaf, and very full of interminable stories 
about the immortal Gustavus Adolphus, the Lion of 
the North and the bulwark of the Protestant faith." 
This Preston-Pans veteran subsequently re-appeared 
in another phase of character, as Capt. Clutterbuck, 
the retired half-pay officer, who, residing at the vil- 
lage of Kennequhair, which was none other than fair 
Melrose, becomes so well acquainted with the archi- 
tecture and history of the venerable place as to 
become installed as its cicerone. 

The other character, whom Scott the boy met at 
Preston-Pans, re-appeared in " The Antiquary ; " and 
Scott wrote in 1826, " He had many of those pecu- 
liarities of temper which long afterwards I tried to 
develop in the character of Jonathan Oldbuck. It is 
very odd, that, though I am unconscious of any thing 
in which I strictly copied the manners of my old 
friend, the resemblance was, nevertheless, detected by 
George Chalmers, Esq., solicitor, London, an old 
friend, both of my father and Mr. Constable, and who 
affirmed to my late friend. Lord Kinedder, that I 
must needs be the author of ' The Antiquarj^' since 
he recognized the portrait of George Constable." 
Inasmuch as, at Preston-Pans, Constable was " con- 
stantly philandering about" Scott's still handsome 
maiden aunt, it is evident that he was not, in fact, so 



^ET. 7.] MRS. PIPCHIN. 29 

decided an enemy of womankind as his representative 
Monkbarns. It is an instance of Scott's general 
carelessness as to making a mystery of the author- 
ship of the novels, that, in the opening scene, the 
Antiquary is introduced as travelling from Edin- 
burgh to the Queen's Ferry (where to this day there 
is a passage-boat for crossing the Frith of Forth), 
which is the direct route to Dundee, near which 
George Constable, when retired from the law, had 
purchased an estate, on which he generally resided. 
Tliis was one clew towards the identity of Monkbarns 
with the retired lawyer, who carried his tastes for 
literature and archaeology into his rural retirement, 
but retained an unconquerable fancy for exhibiting 
his ability as a legal man. 

Scott was familiar in his manhood with George 
Constable, and had ample opportunity of studying his 
personal and mental traits in social life ; but it is re- 
markable that his accidental meeting, before he was 
eight years old, with Ensign Dalgetty at Preston- 
Pans, bearing his peculiarities in mind, and repro- 
ducing them in an historical novel more than forty 
years afterwards, has evaded the notice of previous 
biographers. The only incident in literary history at 
all resembling this, and still more surprising, is re- 
lated of Charles Dickens in connection with his story 
of. " Dombey and Son." It is said, that, when Mr. 
Dickens's sister read that tale, she said to the author, 
'' In Mrs. Pipchin you have closely described the ap- 
pearance, the manners, and the character of a terrible 
old creature under whose care all of us children were 
placed for a short time. But you were only three 
years and a half old when this occurred ; and I cannot 
understand how you could have so closely noticed her 
strange, unpleasant ways, and her very remarlcable 
appearance, and have remembered every thing so well, 
that I recocrnized her in the book at once." This 



30 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i777 

power of observation, remembrance, and reproduction, 
is, in fact, a peculiar attribute of what is called 
genius. Invention of character or incident ofttimes 
is but an adaptation, by some peculiar process in the 
mind, of what resembles, but is something more 
than, memory. 

Returning from Preston-Pans, the lad went home 
for some weeks to Mrs. Cockburn, a kinswoman, 
author of a beautiful modern version of the Scot- 
tish " Flowers of the Forest," then visiting in the 
neighborhood of Edinburgh ; and occasionally spent 
an evening with Mrs. Scott, her kinswoman and 
friend. Writing to the minister of Galashiels, her 
native parish, in November, 1777, she said, — 

" I last night supped in Mr. Walter Scott's. He 
has the most extraordinary genius of a boy I ever 
saw. He was reading a poem to his mother when I 
went in. I made him read on : it was the description 
of a shipwreck. His passion rose with the storm. 
He lifted his eyes and hands. ' There's the mast 
gone ! ' says he : ' crash it goes ! They will all perish ! ' 
After his agitation, he turns to me. ' That is too 
melancholy,' says he : ' I had better read you some- 
thing more amusing.' I preferred a little chat, and 
asked his opinion of Milton and other books he 
was reading, which he gave me wonderfully. One 
of his observations was, ' How strange it is, that 
Adam, just new come into the world, should know 
every thing I that must be the poet's fancy,' says he. 
But, when he was told he was created perfect by God, 
he instantly yielded. When taken to bed last night, 
he told his aunt he liked that lady. ' What lady ? ' 
says she. ' Why, Mrs. Cockburn ; for I think she is a 
virtuoso like myself.' — ' Dear Walter,' says Aunt Jen- 
ny, ' what is a virtuoso V — ' Don't ye know ? Why, 
it's one who wishes and will know every thing.' 
Now, sir, you will think this a very silly story. Pray, 



MT. 6.] A YOUNG VIRTUOSO. 31 

what age do you suppose this boy to be ? Name it 
now, before I tell you. 'Why, twelve or fourteen.' 
No such thing : he is not quite six years old. He 
has a lame leg, for which he was a year at Bath ; 
and has acquired the perfect English accent, which he 
has not lost since he came ; and he reads like a Gar- 
rick. You will allow this an uncommon exotic." 

At this time, the child was six years and three 
months old to a day. Mrs. Cockbui'n somewhat ex- 
aggerated his abilit}^ — unconsciously, no doubt ; for 
he never had an English pronunciation. At this time, 
too, he paid a flying visit to his relative, Mrs. Keith 
of Ravelstone (she was born a S win ton of Swinton), 
by whom, also, his precocious talents were observed, 
and whose picturesque mansion, with its venerable 
gardens and their massive hedges of yew and holly, 
was always considered by him as the ideal of the 
art. In " Waverley," many of the quaint and pictu- 
resque features of Ravelstone were adopted into his 
*' Tully Veolan," now so well known as " The Manor- 
House of Baron Bradwardine of that Ilk." 

By Christmas, 1777, the boy was back again at 
Sandy-Knowe, — not long to remain ; for when it was 
reported in the family-circle at Edinburgh that he 
was strono^ enouGrh to ride with address and bold- 
ness a little Shetland pony which his Uncle Thomas 
had given to him, and which he had taught to follow 
him into the house and feed out of his hand, it was 
thought that he now was capable of taking the sec- 
ond step in Kfe, — that of going to school. Accord- 
ingly, ere he was seven years old, he was once 
more among his brothers, under the paternal roof in 
Edinburgh. 

With equal truth and patriotism did Scott, in the 
prime and pride of his genius, apostrophize " Caledo- 
nia, stern and wild," as "meet nurse for a poetic 
child." His early childhood in the country had given 



32 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i777- 

him more than health of body. He liacl imbibed, not 
merely the invigorating air of his fathers' home, but 
the poetry and romance of his fathers' wild modes of 
living. In this case, distance lent enchantment to the 
view; and the rough raiders of the Border, who 
sometimes had to wait for their dinners until they 
had stolen the beeves or sheep, w^ere considered by 
him, as he sat in his grandsire's ingle-nook at Sandy- 
Knowe, as bold and gallant fellows, near akin to 
heroes ! As the years glided on, this feeling of admi- 
ration became mitigated, but not materially so until 
after he had relieved his mind by giving the Border 
ballads to the world, and by writing that original 
" Lay," in which William of Deloraine, that " stark 
moss-trooping Scott," occupies a prominent position. 

In middle age, he joyed to remember and record 
these early days, when, as he wrote, 

" Ever by the winter hearth 

Old tales I heard of woe and mirth, 

Of lovers' slights, of ladies' charms, 

Of witches' spells, of warriors' arms; 

Of patriot battles, won of old 

By Wallace wight, and Bruce the bold ; 

Of later fields of feud and fight, 

When, pouring from their Highland height, 

The Scottish clans, in headlong sway, 

Had swept the scarlet ranks away. 

While stretched at length upon the floor, 

Again I fought each combat o'er ; 

Pebbles and shells, in order laid. 

The mimic ranks of war displayed; 
And onward still the Scottish lion bore, 
And still the scattered Southern fled before.** 

In fact, in his childhood, Scott's imagination, even 
more than his reason, had been impressed with themes 
of historic romance ; and his treating of them, when 
his intellect and fancy and memory had grown, was 
precisely what Avas to have been expected. Out of 
that fulness of his mind he produced song and story. 



CHAPTER III. 

High School of Edinburgh. — Early Story-telling and Verses. — Omnivorons 
Heading. — The IJallantynes. — University Studies. — Foreign Languages. 

— Incapacity for Greek. — Exhausting Libraries. — Napoleon under Arrest. 

— llural Wanderings. — Leaves the University. 

1778—1786. 

AT the age of seven, Walter Scott, tliongh he 
could read fluently enough, and had already 
stored in his memory a great many Border ballads, was 
first sent to a little private school ; and, after being 
*^ coached " by a tutor at home, he was considered 
sufficiently prepared for joining the class of Mr. Luke 
Eraser, in the High School, in October, 1778. Here 
his progress was eccentric and creditable ; his quick 
apprehension and wonderful memory enabling him to 
learn without difficulty. In October, 1782, Scott was 
advanced into the class of Dr. Alexander Adam, sub- 
sequently author of several elementary works on his- 
tory and geography, and of one on Roman antiqui- 
ties, which still holds its place in schools and upon 
bookshelves in ScotLand. Such a teacher, who was 
superior to mere routine and technicalities, was not 
ill adapted to such a pupil as Scott, who, though never 
attaining a high permanent standing in the school, 
was already so quick and accurate on dates and facts, 
that Dr. Adam constantly referred to him, as occa- 
sion arose, while under examination, and honored 
him with the title of " historian of the class." Now 
and then, he made a brilliant coup with some prompt 



34 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1783 

and unexpected repl}^ For example, some dullard, 
who, boggling at cum^ being asked, " What part of 
speech is withf answered, "J. substantive^ The 
Rector, after a moment's pause, thought it worth 
while to ask his dux^ *' Is with ever a substantive ? " 
But all were silent until the query reached Scott, then 
near the bottom of the class, who instantl}^ responded 
by quoting a verse of the Book of Judges: "And 
Samson said unto Delilah, If they bind me with 
seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I 
be weak, and as another man." 

Bright boys are not always very popular with their 
schoolmates ; but, though Walter Scott had the ad- 
vantage in some things, he was not envied, and was 
much liked. He had some qualities which youth 
admires. He was brave, and he was a capital story- 
teller. Notwithstanding his lameness, he excelled in 
climbing, lifting weights, land using muscular force. 
He was always ready to fight (the great test of man- 
liness at school), provided his antagonist would meet 
him on even terms, — face to face, each strapped to a 
plank. Then he was the romancist of his division ; 
narratives of his own ready coinage, interminable, 
and crowded with wild and wonderful adventures, 
drawing his class-fellows to listen even in school- 
hours, at the risk of punishment from the " taws ; " 
and, before and after these hours, the lads would 
crowd around him, eagerly listening to his tales. 

The elder Scott, not content with placing his sons 
in the High School to scramble for such learning as 
they could pick up, gave them the great advantage, in 
the evenings, of being carefully prepared by a compe- 
tent private tutor, who had been educated for the 
sacred ministry. From him the future author learned 
writing and arithmetic; to him were repeated the 
French lessons ; and Avith him the classics were stud- 
ied. Tutor and pupil used to argue, when time per- 



^T. 12.] FIRST VERSES. 35 

mitted, on the early history of the Church of Scot- 
land, the wars and sufferings of the Covenanters, and 
so forth. " I, with a head on fire for chivahy, was 
a Cavalier," said Scott ; " my friend was a Roundhead : 
I was a Tory, and he was a Whig : I hated Presbyte- 
rians, and admired Montrose with his victorious High- 
landers ; he liked the Presbyterian Ulysses, the dark 
and politic Argyle : so that we never wanted subjects 
of dispute ; but our disputes were always amicable. 
In all these tenets, there was no real conviction, on 
my part, arising out of acquaintance with the views 
or principles of either party ; nor had my antagonist 
address enough to turn the debate on such topics. I 
took up my politics at that period, as King Charles II. 
did his religion, — from an idea that the Cavalier creed 
was the more gentlemanlike persuasion of the two. 

Writing in 1826, Scott declared that he was never 
a dunce, nor thought to be so, but an incorrigibly idle 
imp, who was always longing to do something else 
than what was enjoined him. From Dr. Adam he 
first learned the value of the knowledge which had 
hitherto been considered a burdensome task. Under 
him, the difficulties of the Latin writers were con- 
quered ; and the boy began to be sensible of their 
beauties. Encouragement and praise were the re- 
wards of this successful labor ; and a proud day came 
when the Rector declared, that, though many of the 
pupils understood the Latin better, '' Gualterus Scott 
was behind few in following and enjoying the author's 
meaning." Next followed attempts at poetical ver- 
sions from Horace and Virgil. One of these little 
pieces, carefully preserved by his mother, and affec- 
tionately indorsed, ^^ My Walter's first lines, 1812," 
which had been considered the second best on that 
occasion, ran thus : — 

" In awful ruins, ^tna thunders nigh, 
And sends in pitchy whirlwinds to the sky 



36 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [17S3 

Black clouds of smoke, which still as they aspire, 
From their dark sides there bursts the glowing fire ; 
At other times huge balls of fire are tossed, 
That lick the stars, and in the smoke are lost : 
Sometimes the mount, with vast convulsions torn, 
Emits huge rocks, which instantly are borne 
With loud explosions to the starry skies. 
The stones made liquid as the huge mass flies ; 
Then back again with greater weight recoils, 
While ^tna, thundering, from the bottom boils." 

When Scott had achieved greatness, Adam repeat- 
edly reminded him of his obligations to the High 
School. His renowned pupil said of him, " He was 
indeed deeply imbued with that fortunate vanity 
which alone could induce a man who has arms to 
pare and burn a muir to submit to the yet more toil- 
some task of cultivating youth. As Catholics confide 
in the imputed righteousness of their saints, so did 
the good old doctor plume himself upon the success 
of his scholars in life ; all of which he never failed 
(and often justly) to claim as the creation, or at 
least the fruits, of his early instructions. He remem- 
bered the fate of every boy at his school during the 
fifty years he had superintended it, and always traced 
their success or misfortunes entirel}^ to their attention 
or negligence when under his care. His ' nois}^ man- 
sion,' which to others would have been a melancholy 
bedlam, was the pride of his heart ; and the only 
fatigues he felt amidst din and tumult, and the 
necessity of reading themes, hearing lessons, and 
maintaining some degree of order at the same time, 
were relieved by comparing himself to Caesar, who 
could dictate to three secretaries at once, — so ready 
is vanity to lighten the labors of duty." Stricken 
with palsy Avhile teaching his class, he survived a 
few days, but, becoming delirious before his dissolu- 
tion, conceived he was still in school ; and, after some 
expressions of applause or censure, he said, " But it 



/ET. 12.] byron's first rhymes. 37 

grows dark; the boys may dismiss," — and instantly 
expired. He had preserved among his papers, in an 
envelope, indorsed '* Walter Scott, July, 1783," three 
short pieces, of which this quatrain may serve as an 
example : — 

" AVe often praise the eveninor clouds, 
And tints so p;ay and bold, 
But seldom think upon our God, 

Who tinged these clouds with gold." 

These lines, written by a boy of twelve, though 
not equal to the early effusions of Cowley and Pope, 
who 

" Lisped in numbers, for the numbers came," 

may safely bear comparison with Lord Byron's " first 
dash into poetry " (to use his own words) at an 
equally mature age. As this, though published in 
the first edition of Moore's " Life of Byron," is not 
to be found in any subsequent issue, it may be worth 
repeating. An old lady who had been on a visit to 
his mother, and believed, that, after death, the soul, 
like Astolfo's lost wits, would fly to the moon, had 
offended Byron ; and, on her repeating the contumely, 
he broke out into this impromptu : — 

" In Nottingham County, there lives at Swan Green 
As cursed an old lady as ever was seen ; 
And when she does die, which I hope will be soon, 
She firmly believes she will go to the moon." 

In 1783, Scott completed his time at the High 
School, and, according to local custom, ought at once 
to have passed into the University of Edinburgh ; 
but his health, though greatly improved, was not 
good, and it was resolved to give him the advantage 
of country residence near Kelso. His aunt. Miss 
Janet Scott, lived there in a small house, then the 



38 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1783 

property of his father, which stood in a large and 
pleasant garden. He went to school in Kelso for 
four hours in the day ; and the rest of his time was 
wholly at his own disposal. The teacher, Lancelot 
Whale, an excellent scholar, welcomed a pupil with 
higher attainments than ordinary, and devoted so 
much attention to him, that the youth's advance- 
ment was considerable. 

Whale had such an unconcealed dislike for polite 
literature, that he thought it almost a sin to open " a 
profane play or poem." Scott, on the contrary, read 
every thing, — history, poetry, voyages, travels, and 
romance, including fairy-tales and Oriental stories. 
He had already made some acquaintance with Shak- 
speare, having found some odd volumes in his mother's 
dressing-room, where at one time he slept. " Nor," 
he says, '' can I easily forget the rapture with which 
I sat up in my shirt, reading them by the light of a 
fire in her apartment, until the bustle of the family 
rising from supper warned me it was time to creep 
back to my bed, where I was supposed to have been 
safely deposited since nine o'clock." 

Dr. Blacklock, the blind poet, one of the first after- 
wards to discover and proclaim the genius of Robert 
Burns, appears to have taken a fancy to Scott before 
he had left the High School, and recommended him 
to read Ossian and Spenser. He did not relish the 
repetitions of the Ossianic inflated phraseology, but said 
that he could have read Spenser forever, utterly disre- 
garding the allegory, but considering all the knights 
and ladies and dragons and giants in their outward 
and exoteric sense, and delighted to find himself in 
such society. Having a wonderful facility in remem- 
bering verses, the quantity of Spenser's stanzas which 
he could repeat was " really marvellous." But this 
faculty of memory was in force only to retain what 
Scott liked. " It seldom failed," he has recorded, 



/eT. 12.] OMNIVOROUS READING. 39 

"to preserve most tenaciously a favorite passage of 
poetry, a pla3'liouse ditty, or, above all, a border-raid 
ballad ; but names, dates, and the other technicalities 
of history, escaped me in a most melancholy degree." 
Later, he began to understand and apply the philoso- 
phy of history. 

At the age of twelve, when Walter Scott left the 
High School, he possessed an unusually large quantity 
of general information, — ill arranged, indeed, as he 
confessed, and collected without system, yet deeply 
impressed upon his mind, readily assorted by his 
power of connection and memory, and gilded by a 
vivid and active imagination. In the country, his 
studies now were even less properly directed. There 
a respectable subscription-library, a circulating-library 
of ancient standing, and some private bookshelves, 
were open to his random perusal. " I waded into the 
stream like a blind man into a ford," he said, " with- 
out the power of searching my way, unless by groping 
for it. My appetite for books was as ample and in- 
discriminating as it was indefatigable ; and I since 
have had too frequently reason to repent that few ever 
read so much, and to so little purpose." Of course, 
few will assent to this ; though, no doubt, the method, 
or want of method, in his reading, was the reverse of 
good. Among the treasui'es of literature which be- 
came open to the schoolboy at Kelso was Bishop 
Percy's " Reliques of Ancient Poetr3^" The book 
was a new revelation to him, bringing assurance 
that the leq;ends which had been dear to him from 
infancy, so far from being valueless, as many persons 
gravely asserted, were deemed by a ripe scholar, and 
a clergyman of high rank in his church, worthy of 
sober research, grave commentary, and apt illustration, 
by an editor who showed his poetical genius was 
capable of emulating the best qualities of what his 
pious labor preserved. In his Autobiography (that 



40 SIR WALTER SCOTT. U7^3 

precious fragment) he says, " I remember well the 
spot where I read these volumes for the first time. 
It was beneath a huge platanus-tree, in the ruins of 
what had been intended for an old-fashioned arbor 
in the garden I have mentioned. The summer-day 
sped onward so fast, that, notwithstanding the sharp 
appetite of thirteen, I forgot the hour of dinner, was 
sought for with anxiety, and was still found entranced 
in my intellectual banquet. To read and to remember, 
was, in this instance, the same thing ; and henceforth 
I overwhelmed my schoolfellows, and all who would 
hearken to me, with tragical recitations from the bal- 
lads of Bishop Percy. The first time, too, I could 
scrape a few shillings together, wliich were not com- 
mon occurrences with me, I bought unto myself a 
copy of these beloved volumes; nor do I believe I ever 
read a book half so frequently, or with half the en- 
thusiasm." In 1820, when he revisited the garden, 
he became sad when he found that the platanus was 
no more. 

At Kelso, he became acquainted with the writings 
of Samuel Richardson, Henry Mackenzie (the latter 
subsequently became his warm friend), Henry Field- 
ing, Tobias Smollett, and other of the best novelists. 
There, too, he met one, who, for good and evil fortune, 
was to exercise a great influence over his maturer life. 
This was James Ballantyne, subsequently associated 
with him, during over thirty years of authorship, as 
printer, corrector of manuscript, and confidential 
friend. He was one year younger than Scott, near 
whom he had his seat at the grammar-school of 
Kelso. Scott, who had the reputation of being the 
best story-teller in the High School of Edinburgh, 
did not let his talent rust in the country. '' He soon 
discovered," Ballantyne has stated, '' that I Avas as 
fond of listening as he himself Avas of relating ; and 
I remember it Avas a thing of daily occurrence, that 



^T. 12.] AT THE UNIVERSITY. 41 

after he had made himself master of his own lesson, 
I, alas ! being still sadly to seek in mine, he used to 
whisper to me, ' Come, slink over beside me, Jamie, 
and I'll tell you a story.' " In the intervals of school- 
work, the two friends would walk together on the 
banks of the Tweed, — one always telling stories, 
which he invented as they went along ; the other 
being a rapt listener. 

In November, 1783, Walter Scott entered the Col- 
lege of Edinburgh, where he found many youths, some 
of them of rank and fortune, who had been his class- 
mates under Dr. Adam. It seemed as if every one 
with whom he was familiar in youth was to become 
his warm friend through life. In the college, his 
most familiar companion Avas Mr. John Irving, after- 
wards writer of the signet. They took long walks 
together, read out of the same books of poetry and 
romance, conversed together, criticised what they 
read, and, to secure themselves from interruption, en- 
throned themselves, as it were, on such eminences as 
Arthur's Seat, Salisbury Crags, and other unfre- 
quented places, — 

" The most remote and inaccessible 
By shepherds trod," 

as Home, making something very like a bull, has 
made young Nerval say. They sought out the 
most difficult places, where they could sit sheltered 
from the wind ; and often, though Scott was an ex- 
pert climber, had trouble in clambering down. Scott's 
rapid glance took in the contents of each page much 
sooner than his friend, who says, " The number of 
books we thus devoured was very great. I forgot 
great part of what I read ; but my friend, notwith- 
standing he read with such rapidity, remained, to my 
surprise, master of it all, and could even, weeks or 
months afterwards, repeat a whole page in which any 



42 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1785 

thing had particularly struck him at the moment. 
After we had continued this practice of reading for 
two years or more together, he proposed that we 
should recite to each other, alternately, such adven- 
tures of knight-errants as we could ourselves contrive ; 
and we continued to do so a long while. He found 
no difficulty in it, and used to recite for half an hour 
or more at a time ; while I seldom continued half that 
space. The stories we told were, as Sir Walter has 
said, interminable ; for we were unwilling to have any 
of our favorite knights killed." 

These were not idle nor useless houi\3 ; for the pas- 
sion for romance, thus fostered, led these two friends 
to learn Italian together. After a time, they read it 
with fluency, and then copied such tales as they had 
met with in that language, being a continued succes- 
sion of battles and enchantments. Among his moth- 
er's papers were found some stanzas written by Mrs. 
Cockburu, who had thought him a prodigy, after his 
return to England, some years before, and addressed 
to him on reading his poem of " Guiscard and Ma- 
tilda," which indicates his having written poetry on 
the Italian model prior to his translating any of Bur- 
ger's German ballads. 

In Greek, though his instructor in college was Prof. 
Dalzell, a perfect master of that ancient and sono- 
rous tongue, Scott made little progress. In an English 
university, a student cannot matriculate without show- 
ing that he can translate from one or more Greek au- 
thors. It was different in the four Scottish universities 
(and, I believe, is different to this day), where it is un- 
derstood that the student hopes to learn the Greek 
language as part of the college curriculum. Scott tells 
the facts, as usual, with a great deal of candor. " Al- 
most all my companions who had left the High School 
at the same time as myself," he says, " had acquired 
a smattering of Greek before they came to college. 



^T. 14.] NO GREEK. 43 

I, alas ! had none ; and, finding myself far inferior to 
all my fellow-students, I could hit upon no better 
mode of vindicating my equality than by professing 
my contempt for the language, and my resolution not 
to learn it." Fellow-students remonstrated, touching 
his amour projyre by telling him that he was distin- 
guished by the name of the Greek blockhead^ exhort- 
ing him to redeem his reputation while it was called 
to-day, and offering to assist him in his studies, so 
that he would come forward with the foremost of his 
class. Scott continued stubborn. '•'- All hopes of my 
progress in the Greek were now over," he says ; " in- 
somuch, that, when we were required to write essays 
on the authors we had studied, I had the audacity to 
produce a composition in which I weighed Homer 
against Ariosto, and pronounced him wanting in the 
balance. I supported this heresy by a profusion of 
bad reading and flimsy argument. The wrath of the 
Professor was extreme ; while, at the same time, he 
could not suppress his surprise at the quantity of out- 
of-the-way knowledge which I displayed. He pro- 
nounced upon me the severe sentence, that dunce 
I was, and dunce was to remain ; which, however, 
my excellent and learned friend lived to revoke over 
a bottle of Burgundy at our literary club at For- 
tune's, of which he was a distinguished member." 
The poor lad was compelled by illness to leave the Uni- 
versity in the middle of the session, and so entirely for- 
got even the letters of the Greek alphabet, that Lock- 
hart says " he was puzzled with the words aiobog and 
Ttoit^r]^^ which he had occasion to introduce, from some 
authority on his table, into his ' Introduction to Popu- 
lar Poetry,' written in April, 1830 ; and, happening to 
be in the house with him at the time, he sent for me 
to insert them there in his manuscript." 

His second illness, which was very serious, partly 
arose, Scott has told, from his having burst a blood- 



44 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [17S6 

vessel ; and motion and speed were, for a long time, 
pronounced positively dangerous. For several weeks- 
he was not allowed to speak above a whisper, to 
eat more than a spoonful or two of boiled rice, or to 
have more covering than one thin counterpane. At 
this time he was a growing boy of fifteen, and suf- 
fered greatly under the severe regimen which was 
necessary. His only amusement, only occupation, 
was to read. One of his school-fellows reported in 
after-years, that, at this time, young Scott, when 
visited by any of his classmates, could scarcely be 
seen amid the piles of books which covered the bed. 
Allan Ramsay, the poet, had established in Edin- 
burgh a circulating-library, which flourished at this 
time, and contained a large and respectable collection 
of books of every description, and particularly of 
works of fiction, " from the romances of chivalry, 
and the most ponderous folios of Cyrus and Cassandra, 
down to the most approved works of later times. I 
plunged," he said, '' into this great ocean of reading, 
without compass or pilot; and, except when some 
one had the charity to play chess with me, I was 
allowed to do nothing save read from morning to 
night. I was, in kindness and pity, which was per- 
haps erroneous, however natural, permitted to select 
my subjects of study at my own pleasure, upon the 
same principle that the humors of children are in- 
dulged to keep them out of mischief. As my taste 
and appetite were gratified in nothing else, I indem- 
nified myself by becoming a glutton of books. Ac- 
cordingly, I believe I read all the romances, old 
plays, and epic poetry, in that formidable collection, 
and, no doubt, was unconsciously amassing materials 
for the task in which it has been my lot to be so 
much employed." Satiety followed ; and the lad then 
began to seek histories, memoirs, voyages, travels, 
and the like, — nearly as wonderful as those which 



^T. 15.] DESULTORY READING. 45 

were the work of imagination, with the additional 
advantage that they were at least true. This exer- 
cise of his own free will was followed by a tem- 
porary residence in the country, where he would 
have been very lonely but for the amusement which 
he derived from a good but old-fashioned library. In 
the opening chapters of " Waverley " and " Rob Roy," 
he has described this desultory course of reading. 

This unconscious storing of the future man's mind 
reminds one of the reply which Napoleon gave to the 
question, how he, a man of the sword, exhibited a 
thorough knowledge of the principles of jurispru- 
dence in the discussions in the Council of State upon 
the celebrated code which still bears his name : 
" When I was sous-lieutenant in the regiment of La 
Fere," he said, '' I was placed under arrest for three 
Aveeks for some breach of discipline, and had to 
confine myself to my quarters in an old house in a 
small city. There was a pile of old books in a corner 
of my room ; and, to pass away the heavy hours of 
inaction, I read these books incessantly. Among 
them, rendered into very ancient French, were the 
' Pandects of Justinian,' which contain the elements 
of codification. By the time that I was ordered 
back to duty, I had fully mastered that work ; and, 
when the time and occasion came, I was able to 
apply my knowledge." 

Slowly recovering from his severe illness, young 
Scott was again taken to Kelso, where, as he said, he 
had the run of a better, because less miscellaneous, 
liljrary than that which he had exhausted in Edin- 
burgh. His distaste for the Greek language con- 
tinued ; but he read the histories by George Bu- 
chanan and MatthcAV Paris, and many monkish chron- 
icles in Latin. His uncle, Capt. Thomas Scott, 
now received liim at Rosebank on the Tweed, below 
Kelso, and was consulted by him, from that time, on 



46 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1786 

all things literary, including his own aspirations. 
Not until the early part of 1786 did young Scott re- 
turn to his father's. As soon as he was strong 
enough to walk, he wandered through the county of 
Roxburgh, endeared to him by its natural beauty, and 
by its manifold associations with the local ballads and 
legj-ends whicli he had loved from the dawn of intel- 
lect. Thus Scottish scenery and Scottish song were 
associated together in his mind ; and his admirable 
descriptions of the former, in later years, were tran- 
scribed, as it were, from a memory, of which it is not 
too much to say, that it was observant as well as re- 
tentive. If he had only once beheld a place, it rose 
up around him at his wish, no matter how great the 
lapse of time, with all the force of reality. So, too, 
with history : events, dates, costume, manners, once 
known to him, were forever unforgotten. If he 
examined a map, it was not to ascertain a locality, 
but to learn the distances. 

Returning to Edinburgh early in 1786, he studied 
mathematics for a time so short, and with an instruct- 
or so worn-out, that he only obtained a smattering 
of that foundation of the exact sciences. He applied 
to the study of logic, besides attending Dugald 
Stuart's class of moral philosophy, and Prof. Tyt- 
ler's of history. He was intended for the law ; and 
it was thought that these studies would tend to 
give him the desired " legal mind." Of course, he 
could not, and did not, profit to any extent by les- 
sons so few and slight. 

Walter Scott quitted the University of Edinburgh, 
I believe, without graduating. His utter ignorance 
of Greek would prevent his passing the examination 
for his degree. Twenty years later, in that frag- 
ment of autobiography whicli has supplied many par- 
ticulars of his early life, he said, " So that, if my 
learning be flimsy and inaccurate, the reader must 



^T. 15.] 



NEGLECTED OPPORTUNITIES. 



47 



have some compassion even for an idle workman, 
who had so narrow a foundation to build upon. If, 
however, it should ever fall to the lot of youth to 
peruse these pages, let such a reader remember, 
that it is with the deepest regret that I recollect in 
my manhood the opportunities of learning which I 
neglected in my youth ; that, through every part of 
my literary career, I have felt pinched and hampered 
by my own ignorance ; and that I would at this mo- 
ment give half the reputation I have had the good 
fortune to acquire, if, by doing so, I could rest the 
remaining part upon a sound foundation of learning 
and science." 




CHAPTER IV. 

Apprentice of the Law. — A Cop5dng Machine. — Athletic Exercises. — Wan- 
derings in the Highlands. — Word and Look from Robert Burns. — Adam 
Fei-gusson. — Paper Lords. — Youthful Friends. — Literary Waiters. — 
Scottish Hospitality. — Speculative Society. —Flodden Field and Chevy 
Chase. — Putting on the Advocate's Gown. 

1786 — 1792. 

ON the 15th of May, 1786, exactly three months 
before he had completed his fifteenth year, Scott 
was indentured for five years as apprentice to his 
father, who had not determined whether the boy 
should become a writer of the signet, like himself, or 
pass into the higher grade of advocate. In one case, 
he might be able to continue the good business which 
had been formed, chiefly by family connection : in 
the other, he would exclusively be eligible for the of- 
fice of sheriff, clerk of session (both of which he held 
subsequently and simultaneously), and even for a 
seat on the judicial bench, — an object of very high 
ambition in Edinburgh, where the noblesse de la robe 
has always ranked high. In the days of Louis XIV., 
the great chancellor of France, D'Aguesseau, wrote 
that the profession of the lawyer conferred '' nobility 
without title, rank without birth, and riches without 
an estate." While in England, and also in Ireland, 
low birth has proved no obstacle to advancement at 
the bar, in Scotland, family connection, as much as 
merit, helped to success. The Lords of Session, 
*' The Fifteen," as these principal Scottish judges 
were then familiarly called, were almost always se- 

48 



^ET. 15.] APPRENTICE OF THE LAW. 49 

lected, in and long after Scott's time, from lawyers 
of ancient lineage. To have personal interest with 
the dispensers of these high offices, and to be on " the 
right side " in politics, was the best passport to the 
bench. By bringing Walter Scott up as a W. S. 
in his father's office, he would acquire a knowledge 
of the technicalities and practice of the law which 
would be highly useful. He finally passed into the 
higher grade. 

Entering into the study of the law chiefly to please 
his father, to whom he was much attached, and dis- 
liking the drudgery of the office, still Scott did not 
shirk his duty. There was the ambition, too, of do- 
ing as well, at least, as his mates in harness ; and there 
was payment, though not much, for copying law-pa- 
pers, which furnished a little fund for the menus plai- 
sirs of the circulating-library and the theatre ; and 
this, he confesses, " was no trifling incentive to labor. 
When actually at the oar, no man could pull it harder 
than I ; and I remember of writing upwards of one 
hundred and twenty folio pages with no interval 
either for food or rest." This long job of twenty- 
four hours would put thirty shillings into his pocket, 
— a large sum for a lad of fifteen to have in Scotland 
at that time. He read a great deal, and having be- 
come healthy, muscular, and tall, was rather disfigured 
than disabled by his lameness, which did not prevent 
his taking much exercise on horseback, or walking 
from twenty to thirty miles a day. " These excursions 
on foot or horseback," he said, " formed by far my 
most favorite amusement. I have all my life de- 
lighted in travelling, though I have never enjoyed 
that pleasure upon a large scale. It was a propensity 
which I sometimes indulged so unduly as to alarm 
and vex my parents. Wood, water, wilderness itself, 
had an inexpressible charm for me : and I had a 
dreamy way of going much farther than I intended ; 



50 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [17S7 

SO tliat, unconsciously, my return was protracted, and 
my parents had sometimes serious cause of uneasi- 
ness." His main object was the pleasure of behold- 
ing romantic scenery, or, what afforded him at least 
equal pleasure, the places which had been distin- 
guished by remarkable historical events. Unable 
to draw, after some instruction and repeated efforts, 
" I endeavored," he says, " to make amends for my 
ignorance of drawing by adopting a sort of technical 
memory respecting the scenes I visited. Wherever I 
went, I cut a piece of a branch from a tree : these 
constituted what I called my log-book; and I in- 
tended to have a set of chess-men out of them, each 
having reference to the place where it was cut, — as 
the kings from Falkland and Holyrood, the queens 
from Queen Mary's yew-tree at Crookston, the bish- 
ops from abbeys or episcopal palaces, the loiights 
from baronial residences, the rooks from royal for- 
tresses, and the pawns generally from places worthy 
of historical note. But this whimsical design I never 
carried into execution." Apropos of chess, though 
he played it when a boy, during his last great illness, 
he abandoned it in riper years, from a conviction, that, 
as an amusement, it subjected the mind to too great a 
strain, and that it also was a waste of time. He 
liked backgammon, because it really was a relaxation. 
In chess, he said, a man got angry and ashamed when 
he was beaten ; while in backgammon the conquered 
could always throw the onus of defeat on the dice. 
Long after he was fifty, writing to a friend about his 
puny and then only grandchild, he drew an image 
from this game, saying, " An only child is like a blot 
at backgammon, and Fate is apt to hit it." 

Scott's wanderings about the country were submit- 
ted to by his father, who, finding that he could place 
confidence in the youth, often sent him to distant 
places on business. Thus employed, he first pene- 



^T. i6.] MEETS BURNS. 51 

trated to the Highlands, and formed those friendships 
among the surviving heroes who had been " out " 
witli the Young Chevalier in 1745 which laid the 
foundation for one great class of his works. This 
was at a time when the Highlands were little visited. 
The old men were willing, at the request of the ear- 
nest youth, whose interest in the affair appeared genu- 
ine, to '' fight all their battles o'er again." In due 
season, these tales were remembered, recast, and re- 
produced with a success utterly unprecedented. In 
his General Preface to the revised edition of " The 
Waverley Novels," — in itself a charming chapter of 
autobiography, — Scott sa3^s, that, while studying the 
law, he " travelled through most parts of Scotland, 
both highland and lowland ; " and had from his in- 
fancy free and unrestrained communication with all 
ranks of his countrymen, from the peer to the 
ploughman. 

In the spring of 1787, when Robert Burns, having 
arrived to bring out a new edition of his poems, which 
had gone into the general heart of his country at 
once and forever, had become the lion of Edinburgh, 
it happened that Scott met him in society for a short 
time on one occasion, and, attracting his notice, ob- 
tained from him a kind Avord, which was also a pro- 
phetic one. In 1827, he communicated an account of 
this meeting for publication in Lockhart's " Life of 
Burns." This is too characteristic of Burns and 
Scott not to be given here. 

" As for Burns " (he -writes), " I may truly say, Virgilium vidl 
tantum. I was a lad of fifteen in 1786-7, when he came first to 
Edinburgh, but had sense and feeling enough to be much inter- 
ested in his poetry, and would have given the world to know him ; 
but I had very little acquaintance with any literary people, and 
still less with the gentry of the west country, — the two sets that he 
most frequented. Mr. Tl.omas Gricrson was at that time a clerk 
of my father's. He knew Burns, and promised to ask him to his 
lodgings to dinner, but had no opportunity to keep his word ; oth- 



52 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [178? 

erwise I might have seen more of this distinguished man. As it 
was, I saw him one day at the late venerable Prof. Fergusson's, 
where there were several gentlemen of literary reputation, among 
whom I remember the celebrated Mr. Dugald Stewart. Of course, 
we youngsters sat silent, looked and listened. The only thing I re- 
member which was remarkable in Burns's manner was the effect 
produced upon him by a print of Bunbury's, representing a sol- 
dier lying dead on the snow, his dog sitting in misery on the one 
side, on the other his widow, with a child in her arms. These 
lines were written beneath : — 

* Cold on Canadian hills, or Minden's plain, 
Perhaps that parent wept her soldier slain: 
Bent o'er her babe, her eye dissolved in dew, 
The big drops, mingling with the milk he drew, 
Gave the sad presage of his future years, — 
The child of misery baptized in tears.' 

Burns seemed much affected by the print, or rather the ideas 
which it suggested to his mind. He actually shed tears. He 
asked whose the lines were ; and it chanced that nobody but my- 
self remembered that they occur in a half-forgotten poem of 
Langhorne's, called by the unpromising title of ' The Justice of 
the Peace.* I whispered my information to a fi-iend present, who 
mentioned it to Burns, who rewarded me with a look and a word, 
which, though of mere civihty, I then received and still recollect 
with very great pleasure. 

" His person was strong and robust ; his manners rustic, not 
clownish, — a sort of dignified plainness and simplicity, which re- 
ceived part of its effect, perhaps, from one's knowledge of his 
extraordinary talents. His features are represented in Mr. Nas- 
myth's picture ; but to me it conveys the idea that they are dimin- 
ished, as if seen in perspective. I think his countenance was more 
massive than it looks in any of the portraits. I would have taken 
the poet, had I not known what he was, for a very sagacious coun- 
try farmer of the old Scotch school ; i.e., none of your modern 
agriculturists, who keep laborers for their drudgery, but the douce 
gudeman who held his own plough. There was a strong expres- 
sion of sense and shrewdness in all his lineaments. The eye alone, 
I think, indicated the poetical character and temperament. It was 
large, and of a dark cast, and glowed (I say, literally glowed) when 
he spoke with feeling or interest. I never saw such another eye in a 
human head, though I have seen the most distinguished men in my 
time. His conversation expressed perfect self-confidence, without 
the slightest presumption. Among the men who were the most 
learned of their time and country, he expressed himself with per- 
fect firmness, but without the least intrusive forwardness; and, 



iCT. i6.] ROBERT BURNS. 53 

when he differed in opinion, he did not hesitate to express it firm- 
ly, yet at the same time with modesty. I do not remember any 
part of his conversation distinctly enough to be quoted ; nor did I 
ever see him again, except in the street, where he did not recog- 
nize me, as I could not expect he should. He was much caressed 
in Edinburgh ; but (considering what literary emoluments have 
been since his day) the efforts made for his relief were extremely 
trifling. 

" I remember, on this occasion I mention, I thought Bums's ac- 
quaintance with English poetry was rather limited ; and also, that, 
having twenty times the abilities of Allan Ramsay and of Fergus- 
son, he talked of them with too much humility as his models : 
there was doubtless national predilection in his estimate." 

When Lockhart wrote (in 1836), the very print over 
which Scott saw Burns shed tears was still in the pos- 
session of Dr. Fergusson's family ; and Scott had often 
told the story in the room where the precious relic 
hangs. It appears, from a communication made to 
Mr. Robert Chambers by Sir Adam Fergusson, that 
it was he, then a youth also, who took Scott with 
him to one of the literary conversaziones which his 
father. Dr. Fergusson, had at his house in the Sheens, 
once a week, for his principal literary friends. Burns 
had been brought by Dugald Stewart. John Home, 
author of the tragedy of " Douglas," and Profs. Black 
and Hutton, were also' present. Burns, as above re- 
lated (I quote Sir Adam's words), " seemed at first 
little inclined to mingle easily in the company : he 
went about the room, looking at the pictures on the 
walls. The print described by Scott arrested his 
attention : he read aloud the lines underneath ; but, 
before getting to the end of them, his voice faltered, 
and his big black eyes filled with tears. A little 
after, he turned with much interest to the company ; 
pointed to the picture, and with some eagerness asked 
if any one could tell him who had written those af- 
fecting lines. The philosophers were silent ; no one 
knew : but, after a decent interval, the pale lame boy 
near by said, in a negligent manner, ' They're writ- 



54 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1787 

ten by one Langhorne.' An explanation of the place 
where they occur followed ; and Burns fixed a look 
of half-serious interest on the youth, while he said, 
'•You'll he a man yet^ sir.'' " These were the look and 
the word which Scott had pleasure in remembering 
in his own decline of years. 

The words used by Burns were part of a famihar 
west-of-Scotland phrase, — " Well done, my lad : 
you'll be a mon yet before your mither ! " 

In January, 1796, nine years after Scott's kind 
word from Burns, it was his foriane, he then being 
a lawyer, to be opposed to the poet on a political sub- 
ject. There was a contest for the legal office of Dean 
of Faculty : and Scott voted for Mr. Henry Dundas, 
the lord-advocate, afterwards created Viscount Mel- 
ville ; the other candidate being Mr. Henry Erskine, 
brother of the future chancellor of England and of 
the eccentric Earl of Buchan. At that time, Erskine 
Avas considered to be the ablest man at the Scottish 
bar ; but it was a trial of party strength between 
Whig and Tory, and the latter had a majority of a 
hundred and twenty-three against thirty-eight votes. 
Burns, not being a lawyer, had no vote ; but, after 
the election, he wrote a satirical ballad upon the con- 
test, and against the victor. 

Adam Fergusson,. who gave Scott the chance of 
seeing and speaking to Burns, was a son of Prof. 
Fergusson of the University of Edinburgh, who pre- 
viously, as chaplain to the Black Watch, or 42d High- 
land Regiment, had served in Flanders, and, at the 
Battle of Fontenoy, appeared at the head of the col- 
umn with a drawn broad-sword in his hand. Com- 
manded to go to his place in the rear with the 
surgeons, and reminded that his commission did not 
entitle him to be present in the post which he had 
assumed, the fighting chaplain drew his commission 
from his breast, and, with an adjuration which was 



^T. i6.] ADAM FERGUSSON. 55 

strangely like a malediction, threw it at his colonel. 
He fought in that day's battle ; but his breach of dis- 
cipline was condoned on account of his bravery. He 
was a respectable teacher in the chair of moral phi- 
losophy ; but his reputation rests upon a " History of 
the Roman Republic," originally published in three 
volumes quarto, and even yet, after Niebuhr, Ar- 
nold, and Mommsen, considered a standard work. 
Scott and young Fergusson were drawn very closely 
to each other by mutual liking from their first meet- 
ing ; and death alone dissolved the tie. Scott envied 
his friend the experience of war which he subse- 
quently had during several of the Peninsular cam- 
paigns ; and Fergusson watched the dawn and noon, 
and chastened gloaming, of his friend's fame. After 
the war closed, it was at Scott's suggestion, and 
through his influence, that Fergusson, in 1818, was 
appointed keeper of the then newly-recovered Scot- 
tish regaha, — a respectable sinecure, which conferred 
competence upon this intelligent, lively, simple-minded, 
and eccentric half-pay officer. Four years after this, 
when George IV. was leaving Scotland, he expressed 
his gratitude to Scott by authorizing him to name 
two candidates for knighthood ; and Adam Fergus- 
son was one of these. 

At Prof. Fergusson's, where he was a frequent 
visitor after the Burns night, Scott met the highest 
literary society in Edinburgh. Among these, then 
and during the remaining years of his legal servitude, 
were John Home, author of " Douglas ; " Dr. Black- 
lock, the blind poet and divine ; his uncle, Dr. 
Rutherford, who used to scold him for reading at 
breakfast, — a habit which more or less he indulged in 
to the last ; Henry Mackenzie, author of " The Man of 
Feeling," whose criticisms on Burns in " The Mirror," 
a periodical which he conducted, assured Scotland, 
that, in the Ayrshire ploughman, it had a great poet ; 



56 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 1 1 7^9 

Robertson, the historian ; Beattie, author of " The 
Mmstrel ; " Dr. James Gregory, one of a family long 
distinguished, like that of the Bernouilli, in the his- 
tory of science ; and Dugald Stewart, then commen- 
cing his brilliant and useful career. Now and then 
some of the law lords were there, as well as dis- 
tinguished visitors from England and the Continent, 
and, though less rarely, — for in that purely literary 
resort mere rank was not regarded, — members of the 
ancient Scottish nobihty, who had been educated in 
Edinburgh, and, though there was no longer a parlia- 
ment in the royal city, retained their old family man- 
sions, and inhabited them in the winter. At Dr. 
Fergusson's it was remembered by many visitors 
there, that Scott, though yet only " an apprentice of 
the law," who approached, but had not attained, man- 
hood, was received by all upon terms of intimacy 
unusual in these days of formal manners. He had 
passed out of the usually awkward period of boy- 
hood, was an intelligent listener, and when called 
upon, as he often was, for a fact, date, or anecdote, 
was able to respond without hesitation and without 
mistake. Each Lord of Session whom he met was 
well acquainted with his father : and, among the real 
Scottish nobility, — for the law dignitaries * were com- 
monly called " paper lords," — some were related to 
him in blood; and some, his father's clients, had 
often been under obligation to him, as their law-agent, 
for pecuniary advances. 

Thus fortunate in his senior acquaintances, he was 
not less so in his youthful friends of this transition 
period, from whom he soon met with great indul- 

* The Scottish judges of the Court of Session were called "paper 
lords." Like English bishops, their professional title did not extend 
to their wives. Thus it would be "Lord Benholme and Mrs Robert- 
son," or " Lord Neaves and Mrs. Neaves." The ladies said that this 
distinction was invidious. 



^T. i8.] GROWTH OF HIS MIND. 57 

gence and regard. He may be said to have held his 
own in general society. He was comely at that time, 
though not handsome, and, though lame, was active 
without being clumsy. At no time was he a squire 
of dames, but, by the time he was eighteen, had lost 
the mauvaise lionte of the indefinable age when the indi- 
vidual is neither a man nor a boy. He was gentle in 
his manner to young ladies, and ever willing, at then- 
call, to tell a story or recite a ballad. He had no 
unpleasant feeling, like Byi'on, on account of his bod- 
ily infirmity, which permitted him to do " all that 
might befit a man," except dance. Byron was ever 
haunted by the idea that every one who saw him 
must remark that he was lame, though active. Scott 
appears to have scarcely given a thought, beyond re- 
gret, to his infirmity. Long after he had passed mid- 
dle hfe, he was asked how he managed to get on 
with the lasses in his youth, and answered, *' I was 
pleasant with them ; and, after we came to talking 
together, I was as much their favorite as the finest 
fellow in the room." 

The years glided on, Scott, as usual, reading a great 
deal ; though now he mixed a good deal in society, 
but not so omnivorous as in his school-days. He 
might say, " How happily the days of Thalaba went 
by ! " He was member of several literary societies, at 
which the exercises were debate and composition ; 
and distinguished himself by his companionable 
qualities. His own report is, that he spoke badly, 
except on some subject which strongly animated his 
feelings ; and was totally unsuccessful in his com- 
positions, which he never attempted except w^hen the 
rules of the society compelled him to write. His 
memory of events, he says, was of great advantage 
to him, and occasionally, employed with success, did 
liim " j^eoman's service." 

In addition to the young gentlemen of about his 



58 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1789 

own age, who had become Scott's friends Avhile study- 
ing the law, were several others, high in birth and 
connection, most of whom became distinguished in 
after-life. Two of these — Cranstoun and Aber- 
crombj — eventually occupied the judicial bench as 
Lords Corehouse and Abercromby ; the habit, as exem- 
plified in the case of these dignitaries, being to assume 
a title from some territorial property, when it was 
not prefixed to the family name. At present (1871), 
of the twelve occupants of the Scottish bench, seven 
bear their family names, and five have taken territo- 
rial titles. The great critic under w^hom " The Edin- 
burgh Review " obtained a world-wide reputation 
did not conceal his proper name when he was made 
judge, preferring to be known as Lord Jeffrey. 

These new acquaintances introduced Scott to their 
several families, which were highly aristocratic ; and 
thus he obtained a status in society from which he 
had hitherto been greatly debarred in consequence 
of the retired habits of his parents. 

At the literary society which these young gentle- 
men formed, Walter Scott is reported, by others, to 
have acquitted himself very well. The great extent 
and variety of his knowledge, and his apt readiness 
in bringing it to bear upon a subject, must have made 
him formidable in debate, though he never was a 
brilliant speaker. Mr. Lockhart says, ••' He had a 
world of knowledge to produce ; but he had not ac- 
quired the art of arranging it to the best advantage 
in a continued address ; nor, indeed, did he ever, I 
think, except under the influence of strong personal 
feeling, even when years and fame had given him full 
confidence in himself, exhibit upon any occasion the 
powers of oral eloquence. His antiquarian informa- 
tion, however, supplied many an interesting feature 
in these evenings of discussion. He had already dab- 
bled in Ano^lo-Saxon and the Norse sag-as : in his 



^T. l8.] THE CLUB. 59 

' Essay on Imitations of Popular Poetry,' he alludes 
to these studies as having facilitated his acquisition 
of German. But he was deep especially in Fordun 
and Wyntoun, and all the Scotch chronicles ; and his 
friends rewarded him by the honorable title of Buns 
iScotus.'' In another association, less ambitious and 
more convivial, called " The Club," which assembled 
on Friday evenings for discussion, followed by oys- 
ters, which always were plentiful and cheap in Edin- 
burgh, Scott's sobriquet was " Col. Grog." The 
members dined together twice a year; and, during 
thirty years, he was rarely absent on these occasions. 
Of the original nineteen members, four became lords 
of session, one succeeded to an earldom, two were 
baronets, one was created baronet, one was a foreign 
nobleman, three were landed proprietors, one was 
made professor of law at Glasgow, and one (Adam 
Fergusson) was knighted. In 1836, only five out of 
the original members had died. " The Club," which 
probably took its name from the well-known literary 
association founded more than a century ago by Sir 
Joshua Reynolds, Dr. Johnson, Edmund Burke, and 
Oliver Goldsmith, is still flourishing, like its name- 
sake in London. 

There was a Teviotdale Club founded in Edin- 
burgh about this time, of which Scott became a 
member through the intervention of James Ballan- 
tyne, who, having completed his apprenticeship to a 
solicitor in Kelso, had arrived in Edinburgh to com- 
plete his professional education. Scott was pretty 
regular in attending the monthly meetings, which 
had a convivial close : and Ballantyne has reported 
that he obtained a remarkable ascendency over his 
companions ; was the most temperate of the party ; 
and, there being a good deal of quarrelling where 
there was a good deal of drinking, often exercised his 
influence as a peace-maker. 



60 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l790 

Almost every summer during these years, lie visited 
the Highlands, — sometimes on his father's business, 
sometimes to gratify his own overpowering desire to 
become well acquainted with that part of Scotland. 
The legal " long vacation," occupying the period be- 
tween the middle of June and the beginning of No- 
vember, gave Scott a long holiday-time of over four 
months. If his pecuniary means were small on these 
excursions, the hospitality of the Highlanders was 
great. Besides, his father was man of business to 
many of the landowners, and was related in blood to 
more. Even so early as the year 1790, one of Scott's 
friends, who had high expectations of his eventual 
success in literature, urged him to write a History of 
the Clans. 

Portions of this vacation were given, as of old, to 
visit his relations in the Lowlands. The old home- 
stead at Sandy-Knowe, in which his helpless infancy 
had been passed, often received him then, and at 
other times when he could obtain a few days to him- 
self. His bodily health had become vigorous ; and in 
the country, with William Clerk and other compan- 
ions, he could walk, with little fatigue, for twelve 
hours in the day, at the rate of three miles an hour, 
despite of his lameness. Now and then he found his 
way to his kind uncle at Rosebank ; which villa, with 
thirty acres of the finest land in Scotland, became 
his own, by bequest from the owner, in 1804, and sold 
for five thousand poimds, — itself no inconsiderable 
sum for a poet in any time or place. His Uncle 
Robert occasionally corrected his nephew's papers 
written for the Literary Society; and mention is 
made, in the autumn of 1790, of one upon the " Feu- 
dal System," of which Dugald Stewart thought well. 
Another, of a later date, on " The Manners and 
Customs of the Northern Nations," had the honor of 
being publicly commended before the ethical stu- 



^Err. 19.] THE SPECULATIVE SOCIETY. 61 

dents, of whom Scott was one. We shall find the 
young man writing recondite essays, soon after this, 
for the Speculative Society, of which he became a 
member in January, 1791. Of this society, composed 
of law-students about to be admitted to the bar, and 
of young advocates who had not yet been able prac- 
tically to quote, 

" Thou great Jirst cause, least understood ! " 

Scott was soon elected librarian on account of his 
reputation as a business-man ; and the minutes, in his 
handwriting, show how carefully and systematically 
he had attended to the affairs, literary and finan- 
cial, of the club. In " Peter's Letters to his Kins- 
folk," one of the ablest and most satirical works of 
personalities, Lockhart gives a saucy description of 
the Speculative Society. Lord Jeffrey informed Lock- 
hart that he was struck, the first night he spent at 
the " Speculative," with the singular appearance of 
the secretary, who sat gravely at the bottom of the 
table, in a huge woollen night-cap, and, when the 
president took the chair, pleaded a bad toothache as 
his apology for coming into that worshipful assembly 
in such a ' portentous machine.' He read that night 
an essay on ballads, which so much interested the 
new member, that he requested to be introduced to 
him. Mr. Jeffrey called on him next evening, and 
found him " in a small den, on the sunk floor of his 
father's house, in George's Square, surrounded with 
dingy books," from which they adjourned to a tavern, 
and supped together. Such was the commencement 
of an acquaintance, which by degrees ripened into 
friendship, between the two most distinguished men 
of letters whom Edinburgh ever produced. 

During the long vacation in 1791, having made a 
raid into Northumberland, Scott first visited Flodden 



62 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i792 

Field, Otterburn, Chevy Chase, and many other mem- 
orable places. Seventeen years later, he described 
in poetry the battle of Flodden and the death of Mar- 
mion. Before this date, he consigned to the flames 
a manuscript poem on the conquest of Granada, in four 
books, each containing about four hundred lines. It 
had been written at the as^e of sixteen. 

Early in 1790, his father had called upon him to 
decide whether he would become an advocate, or a 
writer to the signet. For some time previous, he 
had attended the lectures on civil law, wliich were 
requisite, whether he chose the higher or the lower, 
that is, the more honorable or the more lucrative, 
branch of the profession. His father offered, if he 
chose the secondary branch of the profession, imme- 
diately to take him into partnership, which would 
secure a respectable income ; but did not conceal his 
desire that Thomas Scott, one of the younger sons, 
should have that chance, Walter adopting the more 
ambitious profession of the bar. This was done ; and 
to that object his studies were directed with great 
ardor and perseverance during the years 1789, 1790, 
1792. In his choice, he was influenced, he admits, 
by a feeling that the advocate occupied a higher and 
more (personally) independent position than the at- 
torney, and, in addition, might cultivate general 
literature without being told that it was incompatible 
with legal business; seeing, Lockhart says, that, for 
the higher class of forensic exertion, some acquaint- 
ance with almost every branch of science and letters 
is a necessary preparative. 

As we have seen, he had a]3plied himself, on decid- 
ing to become an advocate, to the studies necessary 
to give him a competent knowledge of the principles 
and practice of the law, — a higher flight than a 
writer's apprentice usually essays. He had had three 
years' probation in his father's office, and now Avas 



^-T. 21.] CALLED TO THE BAR. 63 

promoted to a little parlor in the dwelling-house, where 
were passed, to use his own words, " the only years 
of my life in which I applied to learning with stern, 
steady, and undeviating industry." He pursued his 
studies in conjunction with his friend William Clerk 
(whose elder brother became a judge long after, with 
the name of Lord Eldin) ; and, having creditably 
passed the necessary examinations in Scots' Law and 
Civil Law, both were called to the bar on the 11th 
of July, 1792. Scott wanted over a month of his 
legal majority at that time. His father, who had 
felt anxious, and even nervous, as to the result, 
believing that the rank and fame of a well-employed 
lawyer were the proudest of all distinctions, was grati- 
fied by the report, from authority, that he " had 
passed his private Scots' Law examinations with good 
approbation." Others besides himself had thought 
that in young Walter they saw 

" A clerk foredoomed his father's soul to cross, 
And pen a stanza when he should engross." 

But his mother, an intellectual and highly-educated 
woman, never lost the conviction, that his taste for 
polite literature ought to be encouraged, rather than 
repressed. She was the confidante of his early effu- 
sions, and survived to see him the most honored man of 
letters of his time. She lived to read '' The Waverley 
Novels " up to " The Bride of Lammermoor." 

The father, writing to a friend on the eve of Walter's 
" call," said, " On Friday he puts on the gown, and 
gives a bit chack of dinner to his friends and acquaint- 
ances, as is the custom. Your company will be 
washed for there by more than him. P. S. — His the- 
sis is on the title, De 2Mriculo et commodo rei venditce ; 
and is a very pretty piece of Latinity." Over thirty 
years after this, in '' Redgauntlet," in which Darcie 
Latimer and the two Fairfords were drawn from 



64 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l792. 

William Clerk, Scott's fatlier, and himself, the novel- 
ist, quoting the above lines, makes the elder Fairford 
write, " On Friday he puts on the gown, and gives a 
bit chack of dinner to his friends and acquaintances, as 
is, you know, the custom." And he makes this letter 
end with, " P. S. — Alan's thesis is upon the title, 
De periculo et commodo rei venditce.^' The novel in 
question was published in 1824 ; at which time Scott 
had become careless as to his incognito, and wore his 
mask loosely. Any curious person at that time, who 
had taken the trouble of referring to the minutes of 
the faculty of advocates, would have seen that the 
title of Scott's thesis in 1792 was the same as Alan 
Fairford's in the novel. 




CHAPTER V. 



Retrospect. — Cultivating the Graces. — Raids in Liddesdale.— Border Bal- 
lads.— At the Bar. —The Stove School. — Dressing up a Story. — Learning 
German. — A Client's Advice. — O'Connell. — A Young Man's Acquire- 
ments. — Mangled French. — Brougham and Arago. — Accomplishments. — 
H orsemanship . — Field Sports . — Angling. — Chess . — Billiards . — A Pair of 
Cards. 

1792. 

IN the preceding pages, fully believing in Words- 
worth's declaration, that " the child is father of the 
man," I have given details of Scott's early life, ex- 
tending to the time when, on the eve of his legal 
majority, he entered the world of action, wearing 
the advocate's gown. In his case, very particularly, 
the transition-period of his life has to be noted. 
When John Home, then well advanced in years, saw 
him at Bath, a helpless, sickly child, he said to his 
aunt, who had charge of him there, " I grieve for 
that poor little fellow with the withered limb. What 
a painful sight to his anxious parents to witness a 
loved one so suddenly doomed to a life of inertness 
and mortification ! " At that time, the child was only 
four years old : and the kind-hearted poet may have 
thought that the vigorous sports and exercises of 
boyhood were not for him ; that, be his life long or 
short, he would probably be inactive and feeble ; that 
for him, if he attained manhood, there would not be the 
smile of beauty and the tender endearments of love ; 
that he would be a burden on his family ; and that, 
in short, his death would be rather a relief than a 
deprivation. He lived to see him, through the recu- 

6 65 



66 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l792 

perative power of Nature, aided by strong personal 
will, a living refutation of the darkly-prophetic 
thought ; thrown by the feebleness of his body into 
fellowship with elder associates, in scenes peculiarly 
suitable for impressing the fancy, and developing 
the intellect ; next running the gantlet, as it were, 
through a crowd of vigorous boys in a public school, 
and taking part in all their sports, invigorating, if 
rough ; attaching many of his companions to him 
by that natural bonhomie which remained one of his 
leading characteristics to the last ; drawing his 
youthful friends around him to listen to the roman- 
tic stories which he composed as he related them ; 
again prostrated by heavy illness, and, at a time 
when he was forbidden to raise his voice above a 
whisper, literally reading through a large library ; 
again exulting in renewed health, which this time 
became permanent ; teaching himself modern lan- 
guages which were not in his college-course ; dili- 
gent, as an act of duty, in the study of the law; 
and at last, when he put on the toga virilis of the 
profession, starting in life, manly in mind and body, 
equal to any fortune, and admitted by all to be of 
singular promise. In fact, though I anticipate in say- 
ing so, John Home the poet, who had so pityingly 
regarded the afflicted, sickly child, lived to see him 
honored above all others in the land, not merely for 
the zeal and success with which he had collected, 
and the judgment and ability with which he had 
edited, the Border Minstrelsy, but also to witness and 
rejoice in the unprecedented popularity of " The Lay 
of the Last Minstrel," and its brilliant successor, 
" Marmion." 

Some little time before his legal studies were com- 
pleted, Walter Scott began to pay some attention to 
the graces. It was a period when a great deal was 
thought of dress ; and, now to manhood grown, he 



/E:r. 21.] CULTIVATES THE GRACES. 67 

could not, if he would, continue the carelessness on 
that point which had previously been the source of 
some amusement to his gay companions. A lady of 
rank, who remembered him at fashionable gatherings in 
Edinburgh, described his personal appearance forty 
years after by the sentence, " Young Walter Scott was 
a comely creature." 

The long vacation in the Scottish courts began 
the very day after Scott was called to the bar ; after 
which, he went to his uncle at Rosebank, where pro- 
miscuous reading, on a seat which he constructed 
amid the branches of a large tree close to the Tweed, 
and occasional indulgence in coursing and shooting, 
occupied his time. He took courage, and attended 
the assize court in Roxburghshire, where he was one 
of the briefless. He meditated a visit to the lakes of 
Cumberland, but contented himself, instead, with a 
" raid," as he called it, into the then scarcely-explored 
district of Liddesdale, in company with a new ac- 
quaintance, Mr. Robert Shortreed, who, during the 
greater part of his subsequent life, was sheriff-sub- 
stitute of Roxburgh. His wished to see the country, 
and to gather some of the ancient riding-ballads still 
remembered by descendants of the moss-troopers there. 
For seven successive years, — that is, up to his mar- 
riage, — ' Scott went into Liddesdale, where his frank 
manners, agreeable conversation, and facility of ac- 
commodating himself to those whom he encountered, 
made him always acceptable. The country was so 
rough, that it was only on the last of these raids (in 
1799), that, for the first time, a gig was introduced ; 
Scott using it during part of his journey. Inn or 
public-house there was none in that district at the 
time. They had to throw themselves on the hospi- 
tality, always warm, if sometimes rough, of gentle 
and simple, — now received in the minister's manse ; 
anon in the farmer's homestead or the shepherd's hut. 



68 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i792 

In these excursions, Scott was picking up copious 
materials for " The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Bor- 
der," and met many persons with such marked indi- 
viduality, that by and by they glided naturally, as it 
were, into his prose fictions. Here, for example, was 
found the original of Dandie Dinmont, who is as 
much a gentleman in his way as the high and 
mighty Col. Mannering was in his. But the scenery, 
even more than the people, became impressed 
upon his mind. Liddesdale was made the scene 
of many an incident, romantic and familiar, in his 
poetry and tales. In his apprenticeship, he had 
thrice explored the Highlands, and also the north- 
eastern Scottish counties, even to the extremity of 
"Aberdeen awa," besides visiting Argyll and the 
midland counties of Perth and Stirling ; but, once his 
own master, he devoted his leisure hours, year after 
year, to acquire a thorough acquaintance with the 
country traversed by the Tweed, — the border-lands 
of Scotland and England. 

In November, 1792, Scott commenced practice as 
an advocate in Edinburgh, continuing to reside in 
his father's house in Queen Square. To him, always 
an early riser, the necessity of being in what is called 
" the Outer House " at nine o'clock in the morning, 
as if waiting to be hired, was no penalty. The young 
Scottish lawyer was and is expected to walk the 
boards of this legal gathering-place, when not joining 
the crowd around a great stove in the centre, every 
court-day, from nine until two. Hence the briefless 
have received the appellation of " Brethren of the 
Stove School." Many young gentlemen of fashion, 
who became advocates without intending to pursue 
the profession, did not object to meeting their 
friends in the outer hall, duly robed and wigged, 
passing the time in conversation, — sometimes it hap- 
pened not of a very grave or elevating character. 



^T. 21.] LEARNS GERMAN. 69 

Walter Scott was not minded thus to waste five hours 
daily ; though he submitted to it for a time. He de- 
voted his available time to study, and, after two years' 
experience of stove-school idlesse, threw himself as 
much as possible into other pursuits. Through his 
father's connection, he had some professional practice, 
— part of it of a class not well paid ; part of it in 
pleading for clients who were in formd pauperis^ 
and by whom nothing was to be gained in purse, 
and not much in reputation. In " Redgauntlet," his 
graphic description of the case of poor Peter 
Peebles was drawn from something akin to actual 
experience of his own. Among his friends of the 
" Outer House," so long as he lounged around the 
Stove, he continued the story-telling which had be- 
witched many of them at the high school and at the 
university. When accused of repeating a story 
which one of his friends had told him a little before, 
and of having disguised it, he retorted, " As for his 
stories, I only put a cocked-hat on their heads, and 
stick a cane in their hands, to make them fit for 
going into company." 

For some years after Scott became a lawyer, he 
was one of a class, which included many of the stove- 
men, for learning the German language. Henry 
Mackenzie, shortly before, had suggested this ; and 
William Erskine, then a young lawyer of consider- 
able attainments and excellent taste, may be said to 
have kept Scott up to the mark. The result was, 
that, though he never acquired a grammatical knowl- 
edge of German, Scott soon was able to translate it 
with sufficient facility, and was a close and delighted 
student of the works of Schiller and Goethe, both of 
whom were then enjoying a certain fulness of fame. 
German books were scarce in Edinburgh at that time ; 
but Scott got into his possession the works, so far 
as they existed, of Goethe, Schiller, and Biirger. 



70 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l794 

Having little else to do, as he afterwards said, he 
translated right through them, not pausing to polish 
his versions, but putting into English a broad outline 
of the sense of the author. " Goetz of Berlichingen," 
which he translated with more care, had great influ- 
ence, no doubt, in determining his mind to literary 
achievements. " The Tragedy of Egmont," also by 
Goethe, contains scenes somewhat resembling some 
in the romance of " Kenilworth." 

There are memories of Scott's practice at the 
assizes in the country circuit. On one occasion, 
having defended to the best of his ability a notori- 
ous house-breaker whom no skill could save, the cul- 
prit expressed a desire to see his advocate before he 
quitted Jedburgh. They were left alone in the con- 
demned cell, when the appropriator of others' property 
said, " I am very sorry, sir, that I have no fee to offer 
you : so let me beg your acceptance of two bits of ad- 
vice, which may be useful, perhaps, when you come to 
have a house of your own. I am done with practice, 
you see ; and here is my legacy : Never keep a large 
watchdog out of doors, — we can always silence them 
cheaply ; indeed, if it be a dog^ 'tis easier than whis- 
tling, — but tie a little tight yelping terrier within. 
And, secondly, put no trust in nice, clever, gimcrack 
locks : the only thing that bothers us is a huge, old, 
heavy one, — no matter how simple the construction ; 
and, the ruder and rustier the key, so much the bet- 
ter for the housekeeper." This reminds one of the 
advice given to O'Connell, the Irish lawyer, by a 
grateful cattle-thief whom he had saved from the gal- 
lows : '' If ever you want to steal a cow, Mr. O'Con- 
nell, go into the field of a wet night, when the cattle 
crowd under the hedge : take the beast that is far- 
thest from the hedge, because that one is sure to 
be the fattest." Experience, perhaps, had told him 
this. 



yprr. 23.1 AUTHORSHIP. 71 

In 1794, though *' no orator, as Brutus is," Scott, 
who now had ranged himself in politics on the Tory 
side, spoke twice in his debating club strongly against 
the principles of the French Revolution, which then 
were causing considerable alarm among a large class 
of the Scottish population. In consequence of this 
alarm, it was proposed to raise a regiment of volun- 
teers, in which Scott's younger brother Thomas, as 
l)ecame his stature and strength, became one of the 
grenadier company, while his own lameness excluded 
him from the corps. However, he suggested the 
formation of a cavalry company, which was accepted 
l)y the government, and embodied early in 1797, 
when a French invasion was expected ; and he had 
the satisfaction of being elected paymaster, quarter- 
master, and secretary. He had a firm seat on horse- 
back, and was a fearless as well as a skilful rider, and 
perhaps was the best trooper in the corps. 

Before his volunteering, Scott had made his first 
public essay in authorship. 

When he quitted the university, in his sixteenth 
year, Scott had read more in the English language 
than most men usually get through during a long- 
life. His reading had been desultory, wholly with- 
out the discipline of proper direction ; but it had filled 
his mind with miscellaneous information, and he re- 
tained it by means of an unusually tenacious memory. 
He was a reasonably good Latin scholar ; had no lik- 
ing for, and the scantiest knowledge of, Greek ; wrote 
and read French with ease, though he pronounced it 
oddly, and spoke it without much regard to grammat- 
ical construction or idiomatic expression ; and had 
taught himself Italian, so that he could convert Ari- 
osto and Dante very fluently into his mother-tongue. 
After he was called to the bar, he learned German, as 
we have seen. In a letter from Scott to Wilhelm 
Grimm in 1814, there is this postscript : " I read 



72 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l797 

the German language with facility, as you are so good 
as to use the Latin characters ; but I dare not attempt 
to write it." Mr. Lockhart informs us that Scott 
also was a fair Spanish scholar, able to read and enjoy 
"Don Quixote" in the original, — an accomplishment 
which would have recommended him to Lord Ches- 
terfield. 

Of Scott's inability to speak French with fluency, 
an illustration is given by his son-in-law, who says 
that some of the courtiers of Charles X. visited Abbots- 
ford after that unfortunate prince had been com- 
pelled, in 1830, to seek, a second time, an asylum in 
Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh. As one or two of his 
guests did not understand English, Scott made an 
effort to converse with them in their own language 
after the champagne and burgundy had been passing 
briskly around the table. Next morning, Lockhart 
was amused with the expression of one of the party, 
who, alluding to the class of reading (the ancient 
chronicles) with which Sir Walter seemed to have 
chiefly occupied himself, said, " Mon Dieu ! comme 
il estropiait, entre deux vins, le Francois du bon Sire 
de Joinville ! " They had cause to wonder at the 
manner in which the author of " Quentin Durward " 
had mangled (^estropiait) the stately French of De 
Joinville, who wrote and fought six hundred years 
ago. 

This anecdote reminds me of an incident, which I 
now print for the first time, of which Lord Brougham, 
who was Scott's fellow-townsman, is the hero. In 
or about the year 1849, his lordship, who long had 
been a member of the Institute of France, read a 
paper, on the flexion and deflexion of light, before 
that learned body in Paris. Fifty years before, he 
had distinguished himself by philosophical researches 
upon the same subject. He read his essay, written 
in French, with considerable ease, every now and 



^T. 26.1 brougham's FRENCH. 73 

then extemporizing short additional notes and com- 
ments. Next morning, a gentleman, who frequently 
gave clerical assistance to the veteran ex-chancellor, 
went, a little before the appointed time, to the resi- 
dence of M. Arago, a man of note in Paris at that 
time, who had also invited the English noble to a 
dejeuner. After examining the documents which he 
had desired to see, the stranger took the liberty of 
saying, " May I ask what sort of French did you 
hear last night ? Lord Brougham piques himself on 
speaking at least as well as a Parisian." M. Arago 
paused for a little space, and answered, '^ My lord 
speaks the French of Racine, of Corneille, I might 
say of Mezeray the historian. It is what one would 
call old-fashioned. It is so grammatical and formal, 
that one knows at once that it was not obtained 
in this generation. My Lord Brougham must have 
learned it from some very aged French person." 
This was true to the letter. After the Revolution 
of 1789, several of the emigrant nobility of France 
resolved to reside in Edinburgh, — a few, who had 
means, preferring it because of its select society ; 
more, because the cheapness of living there was 
of importance to them. Such of the latter class 
as had accomplishments exercised them to obtain 
subsistence. A noble of the old regime, ancient 
in years, and with an enormously long pedigree 
as his chief remaining property, was Brougham's 
instructor in the popular language of Europe, and 
taught him the French, stately and measured, of the 
court and the stage during the reign of Louis XIV. 
When this was explained to M. Arago, he smiled in 
approbation of his own shrewdness, and five minutes 
after, when most of the guests had arrived, might be 
heard liberally complimenting Lord Brougham on the 
excellence of his composition and the purity of his 
pronunciation and accent ; concluding with the ob- 



74 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i797 

servation, that some of the distinguished audience 
of the previous evening had believed with difficulty 
that his lordship was not a Frenchman. Scott, who 
had picked up, rather than learned, what French he 
knew, pronounced it " after the manner of Stratforde 
le Bow," and assuredly could never have been com- 
plimented on his Parisian or even his Provencal 
accent. In this respect, however, he sinned in good 
company : for Charles James Fox, though he wrote 
and spoke French with ease, insisted on giving it an 
English pronunciation ; calling " Bordeaux " Bur dux, 
for example. 

Among his other accomplishments, that of dancing 
could not be included, of course, owing to his lame- 
ness, — a defect which Shakspeare and Byron also 
had. His personal activity and endurance were very 
great. Few places were so steep that he could not 
climb. He said in his final "Introduction to the 
Lay," that, after the improvement of his health, he 
had, since the incapacitating circumstance of his lame- 
ness, distinguished himself by the endurance of toil 
on foot or horseback ; having often walked thirty miles 
a day, and rode upwards of a hundred, without rest- 
ing. He was an excellent horseman, a good judge 
of the " points " of a steed ; and was handy enough 
to saddle, and even, at a pinch, to groom, the animal 
that had borne him. He also knew, and highly 
valued, a good dog ; and was keen and skilful in 
field-sports. In his prosperity, he assembled his 
friends and neighbors of all degrees, once a year 
at least, at what was called the Abbotsford Hunt, 
by which the hares on the estate were very much 
thinned; for Lockhart writes, ''We had commonly, 
as we returned, hares enough to supply with soup 
for a week following the wife of every farmer that 
attended." Scott was not a follower of Izaak Walton 
after his youth was over, though he relished the 



^T. 26.] GAMES OF SKILL AND CHANCE. 75 

enthusiasm, simplicity, and quaintness of that ic^yllic 
writer. He used to justify himself by quoting John- 
son's definition of an angler, — '* a stick with a worm 
at one end, and a fool at the other," — but would 
sometimes confess that he had not the patience neces- 
sary for success in that art, and, instead of watching 
for a rise or a bite, would let his thoughts run away 
with him into the realms of poetry and romance. 

He was a good chess-player in his youth, but aban- 
doned it soon after he entered the universit3^ It was 
a sad waste of brains, he said ; a throwing-away of 
time, in which a man might acquire a new language, 
upon a game, which, however ingenious, was only 
a game. He objected, too, to a mere amusement ab- 
sorbing and perplexing the mind, which might require, 
not exercise, but repose. As I have already said, he 
preferred backgammon, which he played indifferently, 
but often with vociferous glee. I do not remember 
whether there was a billiard-table in Abbotsford ; but 
Scott either did not or would not play. In a letter 
to his son Walter in 1819, soon after he had become 
a cornet of hussars, he said, " In every point of 
view, field-sports are preferable to the indoors amuse- 
ment of the billiard-table, which is too often the 
lounging-place for idle young officers, where there is 
nothing to be got but a habit of throwing away time, 
and an acquaintance with the very worst society; I 
mean, at public billiard-rooms ; for unquestionably 
the game itself is a pretty one when practised among 
gentlemen, and not made a constant habit of. But 
public billiard-tables are almost always the resort of 
blacklegs and sharpers, and all that numerous class 
whom the French call chevaliers cVindustrie; and we, 
knights of the whipping-post.'''' As for cards, though 
he certainly could play whist, which was a game 
much more popular " sixty years since " than now, 
they were never used in Abbotsford. Once, when it 



76 



SIR WALTER SCOTT. 



1 1 797. 



was proposed to have a rubber, Scott smiled, and an- 
swered, " Certainly : have as many games as you 
please : here is a nice quiet table. But " (and there 
came a merry twinkle into his eye) "I think there 
was a pair of cards somewhere in the house four or 
five years ago, and not more than half of them have 
been lost." 




CHAPTER VI. 

study of Gorman Literature. — Biirger's "Lcnore." — Taylor's and Scott's 
Translations. — Goethe's '' Goetz." — First Love. — Pursuit. — Encourage- 
ment. — Rejection. — End of a Romance. — Caught in the Rebound. — Die 
Vernon at Gilsland. — The Popping-Stone. — Mystery of a Bride's Parent- 
age. — Benedick the Married Man. 

1793—1798. 

IN an introduction to one of his own poems, Scott 
has stated with exact care the very day and year 
on which the Hterary persons of Edinburgh " were 
first made aware of the existence of works of genius 
in a language cognate with the Enghsh, and possessed 
of the same manly force of expression. They learned, 
at the same time, that the taste which dictated the 
German compositions was of a kind as nearly alHed 
to the English as their own language." Upon the 
21st April, 1788, when Scott was in his seventeenth 
year, Henry Mackenzie read in Edinburgh, to the 
Royal Society, an essay on German literature, 
which produced a powerful effect. The majority of 
his auditors, with minds highly cultivated, then first 
heard something of the productions of Lessing, Klop* 
stock, Schiller, and other German poets of eminence. 
They had probably read a translation of " The Sor- 
rows of Werther " (a sentimental novel founded on 
Goethe's own love for a betrothed lady, and the sui- 
cide of a young man named Jerusalem), which, being 
more sensational than English fiction of that period, 
was in every one's hands. Mackenzie's essay treated 
chiefly of the German drama, which chiefly consisted 

77 



78 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1794 

of tragedies in prose until Schiller showed that blank 
verse was the proper medium for this kind of com- 
position. 

One effect from Mackenzie's revelation was a 
desire, on the part of Scott and some of his friends, 
to study German. Dr. Willich, a German medical 
gentleman then living in Edinburgh, who undertook 
to instruct them, soon lost his patience with Scott, 
who, even more than the others, desired to master 
the masterpieces of German literature without the 
trouble and delay of learning the language from the 
grammar. Gesner's " Death of Abel," which Scott 
called a pietistic story, was put into their hands, as 
very easy German to begin with ; but they had no 
sympathy with the characters and incidents of that 
antediluvian idyl. They contrived, however, to ac- 
quire sufficient knowledge of the language to interest 
them in it ; and, by laborious private stud}^, most of 
the class became able to read Lessing, Kant, and Ger- 
stenberg, whose tragedy of " Ugolino" is said to have 
inspired Schiller, Goethe, and Klinger. Scott took 
very kindly to the modern imaginative literature of 
Germany : it best suited his taste, and the language 
was less difficult. He translated all that he could 
procure of the poetry of Goethe, Schiller, and Biir- 
ger, putting them into plain English prose. Mr. 
Gillies says that he also dealt in this manner with 
some of the now-forgotten romances of Spiess, then 
an eminent manufacturer for the Minerva press of 
Germany. These translations were mere exercises ; 
but they broke him into the manner of authorship. 
About this time appeared the first translation of 
" The Robbers " of Schiller, by Mr. Tytler ; and the 
enthusiasm with which it was received greatly in- 
creased the general taste in Scotland for German 
compositions. 

Scott's legal practice, whether in Edinburgh or 



^T. 23-] TRANSLATION FROM BURGER. 79 

on circuit, was so small, as to leave him abundant 
time to devote himself to literature; though the 
opinion then prevailed, and is not yet exploded, that 
Law, like Art, was a jealous mistress, who would not 
brook the divided attention of her votary. When a 
young man has nothing to do, and declines a descent 
into dissipation, he usually commits poetry. Thus 
it happened with Scott soon after he had completed 
his twenty-fourth year. 

At that time, among the few writers in England 
well acquainted with German literature was William 
Taylor of Norwich, whose first public essay in that 
vast field was a vigorous rendition into Englisli metre 
of Biirger's " Lenore." In the autumn of 1795, Miss 
Letitia Aiken, afterwards Mi-s. Barbauld, visited 
Edinburgh, and one evening, in the family circle of 
Dugald Stewart, drew from her pocket-book a copy 
of Taylor's translation, not then in print. The 
original, though published twenty years, had never 
before been done into English. The wild character 
of the tale was such as struck the imagination of all 
who heard it, although Scott says the idea of the 
lady's ride behind the spectre-horseman had been 
long before hit upon by an English ballad-maker. 
Miss Aiken read the translation to the company, who 
were electrified by the tale. Taylor had copied the 
imitative harmony of the German, and described 
the spectral journey in language resembling that of 
the original. Biii'ger had thus painted the ghostly 
career ; — 

" Und hurre, hurre, hop hop hop ! 
Ging's fort in saussendem Galopp, 
Dass Ross und Reiter schnoben 
Und Kies und Furken stoben ; " 

and Taylor had rendered the kindred sounds into 
English, thus : — 



80 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l79S 

" Tramp, tramp, across tlie land they speede ; 
Splash, splash, across the sea. 
Hurrah ! the dead can ride apace : 
Dost fear to ride with me ? " 

Miss Aiken would give no copy of the ballad ; and 
when Scott, who was absent from town when she 
was in Edinburgh, heard of it, he found all his 
friends in rapture with the spirited translation which 
she had read to them. He was interested by their 
sketch of the story, and their recollection of two out 
of the four lines just quoted, and much desired to 
see the poem. A German lady, allied to him by 
marriage, obtained for him a copy of Biirger's works 
from Hamburg. The perusal of the original excited 
him ; and he says, " When the book had been a few 
hours in my possession, I found myself giving an 
animated account of the poem to a friend, and rashly 
added a promise to furnish a copy in English ballad 
metre." This was his first attempt at verse, save 
his school-exercises. He adds, " I well recollect that 
I began my task after supper, and finished it about 
daybreak the next morning; by which time, the 
ideas which the task had a tendency to summon up 
were rather of an uncomfortable character. As my 
object was much more to make a good translation of 
the poem for those whom I wished to please than to 
acquire any poetical fame for myself, I retained in 
my translation the two lines which Mr. Taylor had 
rendered with equal boldness and felicity." 

In the " Life and Writings of William Taylor," by 
J. W. Robberds, is a letter from Miss Lucy Aiken, 
dated December, 1841, containing a note of what she 
had heard Su* Walter Scott say to Mrs. Barbauld, her 
sister. It reads thus : " After reminding her, that, 
long before the ballad was printed, she had carried it 
with her to Edinburgh, and read it to Mr. Dugald 
Stewart, he (said Scott) repeated all of it he 



i^T. 24.] FIRST PUBLICATION. 81 

could remember to me ; ' and this^ madam, was ivhat 
made me a poet. I had several times attempted the 
more regular kind of poetry without success ; but 
here was something which I thought I could do.' " 

The person for whom Scott made his rhymed 
translation of '' Lenore " was Miss Cranstoun, after- 
wards Countess of Purgstall of Styria, sister of one 
of his friends. She was delighted and surprised. 
Others thought highly of it also. In April, 1796, a 
few copies of the poem were printed; and in the 
following October it appeared in a thin quarto in com- 
pany with a translation of " Ber Wilde Jiiger^^ a ro- 
mantic ballad, also by Biirger. This publication was 
principally distributed, in presentation-copies, to 
friends, who, in such cases, prove their regard for 
an author's interests by not purchasing his work, 
but by kindly allowing themselves to be supplied, 
usually on their own earnest solicitation, at his 
expense. 

It has been imputed to Scott that his translations 
were merely paraphrases of Biirger 's ballads ; but 
" Lenore " (called '' WilHam and Helen " in Scott's 
works) was given only as imitated from the Ger- 
man oricrinal, and "The Wild Huntsman" was simi- 
larly labelled. 

The publication, though a failure in the sale, in- 
creased Scott's prestige, and advanced his reputation 
among friends. He applied himself more diligently 
than ever to the study of the German language, and 
he says, " though far from being a correct scholar, 
became a bold and daring reader, nay, even transla- 
tor, of various dramatic pieces from that tongue." 
Among his manuscripts marked 1795 and 1797 were 
found several translations of German plays, all in prose, 
like the originals. To this period, too, may be re- 
ferred that translation of Goethe's well-known tra- 
gedy of " Goetz von Berlichingen of the Iron Hand " 



82 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i797 

(not published until January, 1798), and some 
lyrical fragments from Goethe. It was the German 
ballad which most interested him ; and, having dis- 
covered that he had a facility for verse-making, he 
soon had the confidence to attempt the imitation of 
what he admired. Leaving him thus occupied, we 
must retrace his path a little to give a glimpse of 
the romance of his real life. 

When Scott was a law-student, he made several 
excursions into the country north of Edinburgh. At 
the age of nineteen, on one of these trips, he fell in 
love. There is ground for believing, from references 
and hints in his correspondence with William Clerk, 
his most confidential friend, that the incident of his 
meeting with the fair object of his regard suggested 
that scene in '* Redgauntlet" where the lady in the 
green mantle visits Alan Fairford, the young law- 
yer, — a character obviously drawn from Scott him- 
self. A virtuous passion thus created, which re- 
mained in his heart through the whole of his life, 
protected and saved him from any low and corrupt 
debauchery in his most trying j^ears of opening man- 
hood. The lady was a baronet's only child. The 
acquaintance began by her being caught in a shower 
of rain in a church3^ard in Edinburgh as the congre- 
gation were dispersing, the acceptance of a proffered 
umbrella, and the walk together to the fair one's 
residence. In one of his latest articles in " The Quar- 
terly Review," Scott wrote, '' There have been in- 
stances of love-tales being favorably received in 
England, when told under an umbrella, and in the 
middle of a shower." To return from church to- 
gether had, it seems, grown into something like a cus- 
tom before they met in societ}^ Mrs. Scott being of 
the party. It then appeared that she and the lady's 
mother had been companions in their youth ; though, 
both living secludedly, they had scarcely seen each 



^T. 26.] FIRST LOVE. 83 

other for ma.ny years ; and the two matrons now 
renewed their former intercourse. But no acquaint- 
ance appears to have existed between the fathers of 
the young people until things had advanced in ap- 
pearance further than met the approbation of the 
good clerk to the signet. He (Scott's father) did 
what was right. " Being aware that the young lady, 
who was very highly connected, had prospects of 
fortune far above his son's, the upright and honor- 
able man conceived it his duty to give her parents 
warning, that he observed a degree of intimacy, which, 
if allowed to go on, might involve the parties in 
future pain and disappointment. He had heard his 
son talk of a contemplated excursion to the part of 
the country in which his neighbor's estates lay, and, 
not doubting that Walter's real object was different 
from that which he announced, introduced himself 
with a frank statement, that he wished no such affair 
to proceed without the express sanction of those 
most interested in the happiness of persons as yet too 
young to calculate consequences for themselves. 
The northern baronet had heard nothing of the young 
apprentice's intended excursion, and appeared to 
treat the whole business very lightly. He thanked 
Mr. Scott for his scrupulous attention, but added, 
that he beUeved he was mistaken. And this paternal 
interference, which Walter did not hear of till long- 
afterwards, produced no change in his relations with 
the object of his growing attachment." 

The acquaintance continued for several years ; and 
Walter Scott visited her father more than once in the 
shooting-season at his seat in Kincardineshire,— r in 
which, by the way, is a very ancient ruin called 
'' Fenella's Castle," in which Kenneth 111. is said tq 
have been murdered in the tentl; century. (This, 
most probably, supplied the title to the mischievous 
imp and imf)ostor who figures in '' Peveril of the 



84 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 1 1797 

Peak.") The young lady is said to have always 
treated him with particular and even delicate atten- 
tion. Her mother, daughter of a countess, certainly 
favored his suit. Scott, with that confidingness of 
love which is at once foolish, natural, and irrepres- 
sible, often spoke of her, and of his hopes and fears, 
to his dearest friends of both sexes, who became 
highly interested in these love-passages. The lady, 
not much younger than himself, is said to have been 
^very handsome, with blue eyes, fair complexion, and 
light brown hair. She was well educated, was fond 
of literature, played and sang well, and danced with 
grace and ease. In an impulsive moment in 1798, 
Scott, being in St. Andrew's, — a decayed city on the 
eastern seaboard, in which the most ancient univer- 
sity in Scotland was established in 1411, — carved the 
name of his beloved in Runic letters on the turf be- 
side the castle-gate ; and had a heavy heart thirty- 
four years afterwards, when he revisited '' The Silent 
City " (as St. Andrew's is often called), which, how- 
ever, though now decayed, at one time could boast 
of having the largest cathedral in Europe. 

When the lady visited Edinburgh in the winter, 
she was very kind to Scott, writing him pretty non- 
committal letters, counselling him to be patient, for 
both their sakes, until time should have swept away 
the difficulties in their path, impressing him thereby 
(to use his own words) with "new admiration of 
lier generosity and candor ; " accepting from him 
with apparent gratification a copy of his translation 
of '' Lenore," richly bound and blazoned, which he 
presented to her ; and finally almost driving him 
to despair, after more than seven years' wooing, by 
giving her hand to another. 

In October, 1796, he knew his fate. On the 19th 
of January, 1797, Williamina, sole child and heir, 
by the Lady Jane Leslie his wife, of Sir John Stuart, 



^T. 26 ] REJECTION. 85 

baronet of Fettercairn, near the foot of the Gram- 
pians, in the maritime county of Kincardine, was 
married to William, eldest son of Sir William Forbes 
of Pitsligo in Aberdeenshire, biographer of Beattie 
the poet. Four sons and two daughters were the 
fruit of this union. By the death of his father in 
180G, Mr. Forbes became seventh baronet. The lady 
died not long after the publication of '' The Lady 
of the Lake," having seen the man with whose affec- 
tions she had trifled become the most honored in 
the land. Sir William Forbes, who died in October, 
1828, succeeded his father as head of the greatest 
bank in Scotland, and, during the darkest hours of 
Scott's career, gave him sympathy and assistance. 
They were friends from youth to age ; the incident 
in Forbes's life which had wrecked Scott's tenderest 
hopes never being the cause of ill feeling between 
them. 

In November, 1827, Scott paid a visit to Lady 
Jane Stuart, the aged mother of his first love, who 
then was in Edinburgh. In his Diary he wrote, '' I 
went to make a visit, and fairl}^ softened myself, like 
an old fool, with recalling old stories, till I was fit 
for nothing but shedding tears and repeating verses 
for the whole night. This is sad work. The very 
grave gives up its dead ; and time rolls back thh*ty 
years to add to my perplexities. I don't care. I 
begin to grow case-hardened ; and, like a stag turning 
at bay, my naturally good temj^er grows fierce and 
dangerous. Yet what a romance to tell ! — and told, 
I fear, it will one day be. And then my three years 
of dreaming, and my two years of wakening, will be 
chronicled, doubtless. But the dead will feel no 
pain." Three days later he records, " At twelve 

o'clock, I went again to poor Lady to talk 

over old stories. I am not clear that it is a right or 
healthful indulgence to bo ripping up old sores ; but it 



86 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i797 

seems to give her deep-rooted sorrow words, and that 
is a mental blood-letting. To me these things are 
now matter of calm and solemn recollection, never 
to be forgotten, yet scarce to be remembered with 
pain." So closed the first love of Walter Scott, — 
deep and unforgotten. 

It has been thought that its fair object, many years 
afterwards, was exhibited in character and personal 
attractions as Matilda in " Rokeby." In a letter to 
Miss Edge worth, in January, 1813, Scott says, " This 
much of Matilda I recollect (for that is not so easily 
forgotten), that she was attempted for the existing 
person of a lady who is now no more." The poem 
was written, it may be noted, very soon after Lady 
Forbes's death. Mr. Lockhart had no doubt that 
Matilda was the object of the poet's own unfortu- 
nate first love ; and as little, that in the romantic gen- 
erosity both of the youthful poet who fails to win 
her higher favor, and of his chivalrous competitor, 
we have before us something more than a mere 
shadow. 

After his great heartquake, Scott threw himself 
more intensely than ever into literature, — perhaps to 
distract or divert his thoughts. His translations from 
Biirger were read, if not purchased. Dugald Stewart 
and other literary magnates took kind care to tell 
him how very highly they regarded them ; and among 
the acknowledgments from the south was one of 
heartiest commendation, and just, but delicate criti- 
cism, from William Taylor of Norwich, — himself the 
first of over fifty translators of the " liCnore." By this 
time, too, he had resolved to collect and edit " The 
Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," — a labor of love, 
for which, indeed, he had long been preparing. 

At this time, too (the spring of 1797), he was so 
fortunate as to meet Mr. Skene of Rubislaw, sev- 
eral years his junior, who knew German exceedingly 



J]LT. 26.] CAVALRY QUARTERMASTER. 87 

well from his many years' residence in Saxony, where 
the language is spoken in its utmost purity ; and 
who had brought home with him a better collection 
of German books tlian Scott had been able to read. 
Their tastes were similar in many points, particularly 
in the love of letters and their love of horseman- 
ship. Their friendship lasted through life. 

In the Edinburgh Light Horse Corps, formed then, 
with Scott as quartermaster, the cornets were Forbes 
of Pitsligo (the successful wooer of Miss Stuart), 
and Skene of Rubislaw. The corps went through 
the usual cavalry drills ; and the genial quartermas- 
ter, who towered over most of them in stature, 
dud had somehow obtained the sobriquet of " Earl 
Walter," contributed by his wit and humor to keep 
all these gentlemen in excellent temper, both on 
the field (or rather the sands of Musselburgh) and 
at the dinner-table in quarters. There were many 
lawyers in this volunteer corps, who had to attend 
drill at five in the morning, appear in costume in 
court by nine, and attend to chamber-practice in the 
afternoon. Besides doing all this, Scott found time 
to continue his translation of German plays. 

All this time, he was advancing very slowly in his 
profession. His fee-book shows that he made by his 
first year's practice £24. 3s. ; by the second, £o7. lbs. ; 
by the third, X84. 4s. ; by the fourth, £90; and in 
his fifth year at the bar, — that is, from November, 
1796, to July, 1797, — £144. 10s., of which £50 were 
fees from his father's chamber. 

In July, 1797, after the rising of the court of ses- 
sion, he went to see the lakes of Cumberland, ac- 
companied by his second brother John, and Adam 
Fergusson. They explored the scenery, which was 
long afterwards made celebrated in '' The Bridal of 
Triermain," and, after making the usual lake-tour, 
settled down for a time at Gilsland, — a small place, 



88 SIR WALTER SCOTT. U797 

with mineral waters of some repute, north-east of 
Carlisle, and near the Scottish border. 

'' The heart is caught in the rebound," says an 
ancient adage ; which seems to have been verified at 
Gilsland. Riding some miles from Gilsland, the Scotts 
and Fergusson one day '' met a young lady taking the 
air on horseback, whom neither of them had previ- 
ously remarked, and whose appearance instantly 
struck both so much, that they kept her in view until 
they had satisfied themselves that she, also, was 
one of the party at Gilsland. The same evening 
there was a ball, at which Capt. Scott produced 
himself in his regimentals; and Fergusson also 
thought proper to be equipped in the uniform of the 
Edinburgh Volunteers. There was no Httle rivalry 
among the young travellers as to who should first 
get presented to the unknown beauty of the morn- 
ing's ride ; but, though both the gentlemen in scarlet 
had the advantage of being dancing-partners, their 
friend succeeded in handing the fair stranger to sup- 
per. And such was his first introduction to Charlotte 
Margaret Carpenter. Without the features of a 
regular beauty, she was rich in personal attractions, 
— ' a form that was fashioned as light as a fay's ; ' a 
complexion of the clearest and lightest olive ; eyes, 
large, deep-set, and dazzling, of the finest Italian 
brown ; and a profusion of silken tresses, black as the 
raven's wing ; her address hovering between the re- 
serve of a prett}^ young Englishwoman who has not 
mingled largely in general society, and a certain nat- 
ural archness and gayety that suited well with the 
accompaniment of a French accent. A lovelier 
vision, as all who remember her in the bloom of her 
days have assured me, could hardly have been im- 
agined ; and from that hour the fate of the young 
poet was fixed." 

This beautiful and early vision of Die Vernon — 



fl^ 




■t-. 



/ET. 26.] WOOING AT GILSLAND. 89 

and all accounts unite in describing her as even lovely 
in her youth and early matronage — was daughter of 
M. John Charpentier of Lyons, who held a govern- 
ment office there (Jtlcuyer du Roi)^ and died at 
the beginning of the Revolution. She and her only 
brother had been educated in the Protestant faith of 
their mother, who succeeded in escaping with them 
to England, and found a friend in Arthur, second 
Marquis of Downshire, who had become an intimate 
acquaintance of M. Charpentier during his travels in 
France. M. Charpentier had, in his first alarm as to 
the coming Revolution, invested four thousand pounds 
in English securities, — part in a mortgage upon Lord 
Downshire's estates. On the mother's death, which 
occurred soon after her arrival in London, this noble- 
man took on himself the character of sole guardian 
to her children ; and Charles Charpentier received 
in due time, through his interest, an appointment in 
the service of the East-India Company, in which he 
had by this time risen to the lucrative situation of 
commercial resident at Salem, on the Madras estab- 
lishment.* 

Miss Carpenter (as the name was Anglicized), who 
was over twenty-one at this period, was chaperoned 
at Gilsland by the lady, daughter of the Dean of 
Exeter, who had superintended her education. The 
young folks soon understood each other. In his very 
satisfactory and even necessary book, '' The Lands 
of Scott," Mr. James F. Hunnewell, who had person- 
ally visited, and closely describes, Gilsland, says, that 
near the Spa, '-'- perhaps an eighth of a mile distant, 
along the winding stream (crossed twice by stepping- 
stones), is a secluded spot, where may be found the 
most attractive popular antiquity of Gilsland, — a true 

* Mr. Charles Charpentier remained in India until his death in 1818. He 
left all his property in life-rent to his sister, the capital to her children. It 
was this accession of wealth which induced Scott to accept a baronetcy. 
He allowed his sister five hundred pounds a year when Scott met her. 



90 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1797 

lover's slirine, accurately identified by tradition, and 
by that authority named — not in sweetest possible 
words — 'The Popping-Stone.' It is ratlier a large, 
flat bowlder, shaped so as to give quite an endurable 
seat to two persons. Around it is charmingly-secluded 
and romantic vale-scenery, all so close, that admiring 
fancy and regard at once embrace the whole. While 
we sit upon this stone, as its worn top suggests that 
many others have sat, we may — best if we are the 
right two together — then gaze on the peaceful scene, 
and recalling the story of the meeting of Frank Os- 
baldistone and Die Vernon, and what that meeting 
brought, and thus thinking how near here Walter 
Scott met Charlotte Margaret Carpenter, we can im- 
agine the story of our seat. From up the little valley 
comes the pure, brown, narrow Irthing, sweeping 
around a headland, and rippling and rustling musically 
over a stony channel, shaded by thick forests rising 
high along the opposite side, and, confronting these, 
by lofty, horizontally-stratified gray crags, or brown 
earth-banks relieving the rock-colors, and by close 
growths of trees and shurbs that crest both crags and 
banks. Abreast the seat, the stream, widening to a 
pool, smooth and mirror-like, flows slowly onward, re- 
flecting the larches or firs, the oaks or ash-trees, above 
it. Below the pool, the stream bends reversely to 
the direction from which it first comes to sight, and 
thus reverses a similar view, through which, beyond 
a foreground strewn with flat or angular, small and 
large, gray stones, it disappears. And on this seat, 
in this fair scene, tradition tells us tliat Walter Scott 
sat beside Cliarlotte Margaret Carpenter when he 
asked her heart and hand, and when she in words 
joined her love and her fortunes with his, and gained 
both a noble and happy home, and name and place 
among the true ' Loves of the Poets.' " 

Tlie lovers had got their own consent ; but parents 



^T. 26.] LOVE PASSAGES. 91 

and guardian had also to agree. His father being in 
a very feeble state of health, Scott wrote to his mother, 
praising the good temper, good understanding, and 
religious principles, of the young lady, who, very 
properly, had removed from Gilsland (the future St. 
Ronan's Well) as soon as she had given Scott her 
'' hand with her heart in it," — mentioning the amount 
of her fortune, her willingness to accommodate herself 
to his place in society, and his confidence, that, be- 
tween her income and his own professional exertions, 
they could hold " that rank in society which my 
family and situation entitle me to fill." He bespoke 
his relations' and friends' kindness for a woman " who 
comes into Scotland without a single friend but my- 
self." 

A long correspondence ensued between Scott, the 
Marquis of Downshire, Miss Carpenter, and others. 
The young gentleman was at once ardent, serious, and 
sensible ; the guardian, considerate and thoughtful. 
The young lady's letters are charming, naive, and 
gently affectionate, just as a maiden might write when 
much in love, but a little afraid of the change she 
was going to make.* Lord Downshire was naturally 
anxious to ascertain the amount of Scott's actual 
income, and to have a settlement made on the lady ; 
and it was finally arranged, that whatever provision 
Mr. Carpenter made for his sister was to be settled 
upon her and her children. 

There was some demur upon the part of Scott's fam- 
ily, arising out of his extremely brief acquaintance 
with Miss Carpenter, their fear that he might have 

* Here, from one of these missive?, is a delightfully-coquettish para- 
graph, the badinage of a pretty woman, who knew her own power, and 
gently showed it: " Before I conclude this famous epistle, I will give you a 
little hint; that is, not to put so many musts in your letters: it is beginning 
rather too soon. And another thing is, that I take the liberty not to mind 
them much ; but I expect you to mind me. You must take care of your- 
self; you must think of me.' and believe me yours sincerely." 



92 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 1^797 

mistaken a passing caprice for the deeper feeling of 
love, and tlieir ignorance of the connections and 
even parentage of his fiancee. 

Tliere naturally was anxiety and speculation as to 
the relations of the Marquis of Dovvnshire, one of 
the highest nobles of the land, with this young lady. 
Scott's father, extremely ill, and sunk almost into 
" second childishness," was unable to make any in- 
vestigation. Letters of inquiry, privately written to 
friends who happened to be at Gilsland Spa, eli- 
cited only the reply, that Miss Carpenter was hand- 
some, young, and piquantc, apparently in easy cir- 
cumstances. In the lirst edition of the Biography by 
Lockhart, no allusion was made to this delicate 
question. In a note to the second edition, he states, 
alluding to " a rumor of early prevalence," that Mrs. 
Scott and her brother were children of Lord Down- 
shire by Madame Charpentier. While any of Sir 
Walter's children survived, he had not thought it 
necessary to allude to this story. " There is not an ex- 
pression," he says, '' in the preserved correspondence 
between Scott, the young lady, and tlie martpiis, that 
gives it a shadow of countenance. Lastly, Lady Scott 
always kept hanging by her bedside, and repeatedly 
kissed in her dying moments, a miniature of her father^ 
which is now in my hands ; and it is the well-painted 
countenance of a handsome gentleman : but I am 
assured the features have no resemblance to Lord 
Downshire or any of the Hill family." Obviously, 
if the rumor had been true, Scott would not have 
heard of it from Lord Downshire. There is a note in 
Mr. Gilfillan's recent Biograpliy of Scott, which is 
worth notice here. After stating the usually-received 
account of the Carpenter family, he says, " Since 
writing above, we luive been favored with some addi- 
tional particulars of this event, which we believe are 
authentic. The Marquis of Downshire, going on his 



/ET. 26.] WHO WAS MISS CARPENTER? 93 

travels, had a note of introduction from Mr. 15ird, 
Dean of Carlisle, to Monsieur Carpenter of Paris. 
The nnhapi\y result of the acquaintance was llic 
elopement of Madame Carpenter, a very beautiful 
woman, with his lordsliip. The husband did noUiing 
in the matter, except to transmit his two children, 
a boy and girl, to the care of his wife ; and they 
lived for some years under her and Lord Downshire's 
protection. On her death, he placed the girl in a 
French convent for her education, and sent out the 
boy to a lucrative situation in India, witli the stipula- 
tion that two hundred pounds of his salary should go 
yearly to his sister. Miss Carpenter returned to Lon- 
don, and was placed under the charge of Miss Nichol- 
son, a governess. The young lady formed an attach- 
ment to a young man, whose addresses were not 
agreeable to his lordsliip. He sent her and her gov- 
erness down to Mr. Bird's, at Carlisle, to keep her 
out of her lover's way. Mr. Bird had fixed previ- 
ously to go to Gilsland ; and he took Miss Carpenter 
and Miss Nicholson along with his family thither. 
They were placed, as usual, with new-comers, — at the 
foot of the table at the Spa ; and it so happened, that 
a young Scotch gentleman, who had arrived later that 
day, was placed lower still, and thus brought into im- 
mediate contact with the Bird party. Mrs. Bird in- 
quired at [s/(7.^] him if he knew a Scotch military man 
of her acquaintance. Major RiddcU. Scott (for it was 
he) knew him well. Tliis formed instantly a link of 
connection : and the Birds invit(nl him to tea with 
them in their own apartment ; and, although his horse 
was ordered to the door to convey him on liis journey, 
he at once consented. . . . The poet soon after found 
means to conciliate Lord Downshire to his views ; and 
the marriage took place as related in the text. James 
Hogg insinuates that the marquis was Charlotte Car- 
penter's father." Inasmuch as Hogg never was a con- 



94 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l797 

fidant in Scott's family affairs, and was very loose in 
many of his statements, what he " insinuates " is of no 
account. Mr. GilfiUan, a clergyman, might have been 
more charitably employed than in thus raking up old 
slanders on the dead. 

The marriage took place in St. Mary's Church (the 
cathedral), Carlisle, on Christmas Eve, 1797. Mrs. 
Walter Scott, the younger, was well received, and 
soon warmly appreciated, by her husband's family and 
friends. The bride's appearance was rather foreign, 
— dark brown eyes, black hair, and olive complexion, 
in a country of light-haired people ; and, though 
partly educated in England, her manners (formed 
in France) were somewhat foreign too : she never 
lost the French accent in her speech. She was fond 
of show, and perhaps might have been more care- 
ful as to expense : but skill and judgment in house- 
keeping do not come by intuition ; and Lockhart 
bears testimony to the fact, that, so long as their cir- 
cumstances continued narrow, no woman could have 
conformed to them with more of feeling and good 
sense. When prosperity and honors came, she glided 
naturally into them, and did not affect to deny that 
she greatly enjoyed and valued them. Their first 
residence, in South Castle Street, became the resort 
of Scott's particular friends. Hospitality was far 
from costly, — on the scale which suited the position 
of this young couple, who did not pretend to give 
dinners or set evening-parties. Both of them fre- 
quently went to the theatre ; * Mrs. Scott being very 
fond of the drama, or of the well-dressed audience, 

* Sir Walter's father, a stern Presbyterian, strongly objected to theatres. 
According to old practice at the High "School, the boys in the class of Dr. 
Adam, Rector of the High School, were expected to visit the theatre en 
masse, one night in each year, to obtain correct ideas of elocution! In 
reply to an intimation of this, the elder Scott sent three shillings to pay for 
his son Walter's ticket, with a curt note, that he thought the money would 
be much better disposed of if it had dropped into the poor's box at the kirk 
on the sabbath. 



JET. 26.] 



MARRIED LIFE. 



95 



the lively music, the brilliant lights, the costumed 
performers, and the varied scenery. The society of 
which Scott and his lovely bride became the centre 
was cultivated to an eminent degree. Most of its 
members were of good family, station, and wealth ; 
but they never were happier than in these early 
struggling, unostentatious days of friendship and 
affection. 

An entry in Latin, made secundum morem majo- 
rum^ in Scott's own writing, in the family Bible, 
records, that on the fourteenth day of October, 1798, 
Mrs. Scott gave birth to a boy, who died on the next 
day. 




CHAPTER VII. 

Summer Retreat at Lasswade. — Publication. — Visit to London, — The House 
of Aspen. — Deatli of Scott's Father. — Thomas Scott. — Monk Lewis. — 
Charles James Fox. — Origin of "The Border Minstrelsy." — Appointment 
as SherilL — Niebuhr mistakes the Man, —Octosyllabic Metre. 

1799. 

IT was the custom of Edinburgh lawyers, during 
the whole of Scott's life, to pass the vacation, 
from July to November, in the country, within reason- 
able distance o-f the city, for the convenience of oc- 
casional business. Railwayism has considerably ex- 
tended the limits of the district thus occupied. The 
first summers of Scott's married life were spent in a 
cottage at Lasswade, a village on the Esk, six miles 
south-east of Edinburgh, which he occupied from 1798 
to 1804 inclusive. Close to it were Melville Park, 
Dalkeith Palace, Roslin Castle, and Hawthornden, 
where Ben Jonson visited Drummond the poet. Here, 
within easy distance, and among Scott's immediate 
neighbors, were Henry Mackenzie, Lord Woodhouse- 
lee, and other dear friends. 

Early in 1799, " Goetz of Berlichingen with the 
Iron Hand," a tragedy from the German of Goethe, 
by Walter Scott, Esq., Advocate, Edinburgh, was pub- 
lished in London. Through the mediation of Monk 
Lewis, a publisher gave twenty-five guineas for the 
copyright, engaging to pay as much more in case 
of a second edition, which it did not reach until long 
after the copyright had expired. Well spoken of by 

96 



^T. 28.] LITERARY WORK. 97 

the critics, " Goetz " did not attract much attention. 
It has been thought that the death of Marmion, and 
Rebecca's description of the storming of Front-de- 
Boeuf 's castle in " Ivanhoe," were suggested bj recol- 
lections of passages in this drama. 

Scott took his wife to London a few weeks after 
" Goetz " was published, and, through the introduc- 
tion of Lewis, went into some fashionable and literary 
society ; but his great delight was among the anti- 
quities of Westminster Abbey and the Tower of Lon- 
don, and manuscripts of the British Museum. 

On his return from London, he wrote a drama, en- 
titled '' The House of Aspen." It was founded on 
" Der Heilige Vehme " (" The Secret Tribunal "), by 
a minor German dramatist, whose nom de plume was 
" Beit Weber." It was sent to Lewis in London, 
and was to have been produced at Drurj^-lane Thea- 
tre, with Kemble and Mrs. Siddons in the principal 
parts : but it was feared that an English audience 
would scarcely understand the German institution 
which pervaded the drama ; and (Scott says) "there 
was also, according to Mr. Kemble's experienced opin- 
ion, too much blood, too much of the dire catastrophe 
of Tom Thumb, where all die on the stage." It was 
sold in 1828 to the proprietor of " The Keepsake," 
at that time a fashionable annual, literally " gleaming 
in crimson and gold ; " and about the same time he 
introduced the Vehm^ as part of the machinery of 
" Anne of Geierstein," but not very effectively. 

In Lasswade, Scott soon became intimate with nu- 
merous noble and wealthy families of the neighbor- 
hood. Though not rich, he was in easy circum- 
stances, and, even if it had been expected from him, 
was unable, from the limited extent of his dwelling, 
to respond to the stately hospitality of these mag- 
nates, each of whom, when he was named, might tru- 
ly say, in Rosamond's words, — 

7 



98 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l799 

"A merrier man, 
Within the limit of becoming mirth, 
I never spent an hoar's talk withal. 
His eye begets occasion for his wit : 
For every object that the one doth catch 
The other turns to a mirth-moving jest, 
Which his fair tongue, conceit's expositor, 
Delivers in such apt and gracious words. 
That aged ears play truant at his tales, 
And younger hearings are quite ravished : 
So sweet and voluble is his discourse." 

Independent of the fact that Scott, himself of an 
ancient family, was of kin to many of the nobles and 
estated men between Edinburgh and the border, his 
profession entitled him to a place in the highest so- 
cle t}^ — just as the youngest officer in army or navy 
is entitled, b}^ virtue of his commission, to be his 
sovereign's guest. Curran, the great orator and wit, 
once told the Regent of England that the profes- 
sion of the law enabled him, an Irish peasant's son, 
to sit at the table of his prince. Scott's social rela- 
tions with his aristocratic neighbors were those of 
complete equality. At that time he had only flirted 
with the Muses, and, after his father's death, laid 
himself out, more than before, for legal practice. He 
went circuit, where he had several cases, and ap- 
peared devoted to his profession. We have now to 
see what induced him to ingraft literature upon law; 
in euphemistic phrase, to marry Apollo to Themis. 

Scott's return from London, in April, 1799, was 
hastened by his father's death. Mind and bod}^ had 
given way under a series of paralytic attacks, which 
took him off at the age of seventy. He left his family 
in easy rather than independent circumstances, — 
sufficient to make fair provision for his widow, wlio 
survived him more than twenty years, with property 
to be divided among his children. Long after his 
death, Scott characterized him as " one of the most 



^T. >8 ] AT LASSWADE. 99 

honest men, as well as gentlemanlike, tliat ever 
breathed." Thomas vScott, who had latterly wholly 
managed it, succeeded to his father's business. The 
agency for the Scottish property of the Marquis of 
Abercorn, long a liberal source of income to his 
father, and carrying a certain degree of position 
with it, was continued to him. He was social, hos- 
pitable, and genial, but did not know " how to make 
both ends meet " in his expenditure ; and, ten years 
after his father's death, was in such pecuniary embar- 
rassment, as made it prudent to withdraw from his 
creditors to the Isle of Man. There he obtained a 
commission in a local regiment, from which he was 
advanced into the regular army. In this, after a 
long service as paymaster, he rose to the rank of 
major. He died in Canada in 1823. 

The thatched house, still called Lasswade Cottage, 
was small and unassuming, containing a few bed- 
rooms, and a parlor of about twenty feet square. 
Attached to it were a few acres of meadow and a 
a good garden ; and it had abundant summer-shade 
of trees. China roses, honeysuckle, morning-glories, 
gay creepers, and dark ivy, covered the walls. It is 
some fifty feet from the road, out of the annoyance of 
public observation. Several years afterwards, Scott 
took a friend to see it, and told him, " It was our 
first country-house when newly married ; and many 
a contrivance we had to make it comfortable. I 
made a dining-table for it with my own hands. 
Look at these two miserable willow-trees on either 
side the gate into the enclosure : they are tied to- 
gether at the top to be an arch ; and a cross made of 
two sticks over them is not yet decayed. To be 
sure, it is not much of a lion to show a stranger : 
but I wanted to see it again myself; for I assure you, 
that, after I had constructed it, mamma (Mrs. Scott) 
and I, both of us, thought it so fine, we turned out to 



100 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i799 

see it by moonlight, and walked backwards from it to 
the cottage-door in admiration of our own magnifi- 
cence and its picturesque effect." 

In Lasswade, which is believed to have been the 
" Ganderscleugh " of " The Tales of my Landlord," 
perhaps the happiest years of Scott's life were passed. 
In its charming seclusion he passed from obscurity to 
fame. Here he arranged " The Border Ballads " for 
the press, wrote the conclusion to " Sir Tristrem," 
and began " The Lay." 

Towards the close of the last century, Matthew 
Gregory Lewis, a member of Parliament, whose father 
was deputy-secretary of war, and owner of considera- 
ble West-India property, had the good fortune to 
obtain great popularity as a writer, which has long 
since passed away. He was highly educated, well 
acquainted (even critically) with German literature, 
had a certain status as a man of fashion, — though his 
stature was almost dwarf-like, and his features at once 
homely and without expression, — and he was famil- 
iarly called " Monk Lewis," from a romance, entitled 
" The Monk," published in 1795, so prurient, and even 
licentious, that its author escaped prosecution by the 
government only on condition of recalling the work 
as far as he could, and omitting in subsequent editions 
the numerous passages justly objected to. This work 
had an enormous sale ; and a pirated edition, contain- 
ing all the objectionable parts, having been printed in 
Dublin, was surreptitiously and largely sold all over 
the British islands. Scott, who considered " The 
Monk " as a remarkably well- written book, con- 
demned its leading characteristics, and was delighted 
with the lyrics which Lewis had introduced into the 
tale. He has recorded, too, that Charles James Fox 
" paid the unusual compliment of crossing the House 
of Commons, that he might congratulate the young 
author, whose work obtained high praise from many 



^T. 28.] WRITES BALLADS. 101 

other able men of that able thne." Fox, who had 
considerable literary taste, was himself such a loose 
liver, that it is probable " The Monk " may have 
exactly suited his taste. All that can be pleaded on 
behalf of Lewis is, that he was only twenty when he 
wrote the book. He subseqiientl}^ did other and bet- 
ter things. His "Tales of Wonder" substantially 
introduced Walter Scott to the English public ; and 
his melodrama, " The Castle Spectre," is occasionally 
played to this day. 

Scott's friend, Mr. William Erskine, being in Lon- 
don in the spring of 1798, became acquainted with 
Lewis, who had announced " Tales of Terror," after- 
wards published as " Tales of Wonder." Erskine 
showed him Scott's translations from Biirger, intimat- 
ing that his friend had other specimens of German 
diablerie in his portfolio. Anxious to enlist such a 
promising recruit, Lewis wrote to Scott, who, sensibly 
awed by the literary reputation of his correspondent, 
sent him all the translations from German ballads 
which he had made. In his letter of acknowledg- 
ment, Lewis mentioned that he would soon be in 
Edinburgh, where he hoped to repeat his thanks in 
person. They met soon after; and mutual regard 
was the result. Scott was the senior by four years ; 
but Lewis had the advantage of being a man of the 
world, with high literary reputation, ample means, 
and a political position. A little before this inter- 
course began, Scott had written two original ballads, 
— " Glenfinlas," a versification of an Ossianic frag- 
ment, and " The Eve of St. John," the incidents of 
which are entirely imaginary, though in the scenery 
he introduced Smallholme Tower, near Sandy-Knowe, 
at whose base he had read and lain and played and 
dreamed in childhood. These ballads, shown to the 
Duke of Roxburgh, procured many marks of attention 
and kindness, and the unlimited use of the celebrated 



102 • SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i799 

collection of volumes from which the Roxburgh Club 
derived its name. Lewis obtained permission to pub- 
lish these ballads in his " Tales of Wonder," with 
others of less importance. Dr. John Leyden, who 
died young in India, — a man who never would 
concentrate his genius and attainments upon one 
object, — also contributed ; and Mr. Southey, then 
beginning his literary career, gave '•'- The Old Woman 
of Berkeley " and some other pieces. The work, 
from one cause or another, did not appear till 1801, 
and, because it contained too many pieces well 
known to the public (Parnell, and even Dryden, had 
been drawn upon to fill up), obtained, with general 
consent, the title of " Tales of Plunder." 

Scott's acquaintance with Monk Lewis was of great 
advantage to him in one respect. Lewis, though an 
indifferent poet, knew what good poetry was, and 
was a martinet as to metre, rh3'me, and prosody. 
Scott has said, " He had the finest ear for rhythm I 
ever met with, — finer than Byron's." He was a 
sharp verbal critic ; weighing the different mean- 
ings of words, hunting for synonymes, searching for 
bad grammar, and able to justify every criticism he 
made. He was such a stern Rhadamanthus upon bad 
rhymes, that, had he lived in our time, he would 
doubtless have thrown one-third of our verses, care- 
less as they too often are in that respect, into the 
fire. Scott, who was careless from his rapidity, and 
whose ear for music was not good, — though he has 
written exquisitely-melodious poetry, — wanted such 
a critic as Lewis, who, with quickness and taste, was 
able to justif}' his objections. Some of his remarks 
on the ballads have been printed ; and their shrewd- 
ness and good sense are obvious. It was Scott's 
good fortune, all through his literary career, to liave 
such a critic by his side. Lewis was the first ; but 
from the time " The Border Minstrelsy " was passing 



^'T. 28.] THE BALLANTYNES. 103 

fchrough the press, to the publication of " Count 
Robert of Paris," James Balhintyne was the critical 
'' ficlus iVchates," to whose unceasing revision the 
poetry and prose of Scott owe a great deal of their 
correctness. 

James Ballantyne, who had been Scott's school- 
mate for a time at Kelso, settled in that town, as a 
solicitor, in 1795. From his youth (as he was only 
twenty-three), and other causes, he did not obtain 
much business. In the year following, he undertook, 
on promises of support from the neighboring nobility 
and gentry, to establish a weekly journal, as an anti- 
dote to a paper strongly tinctured with what were 
then called " French principles," circulating largely 
in Roxburghshire and the other border counties. 
On returning from the purchase of type in Glasgow, 
he met Walter Scott in the stage-coach. During the 
journey to Edinburgh, — now performed on the rail- 
road within one hour, but then occupying five or six, 
— their acquaintance was renewed, and never again 
dropped. The first number of '' The Kelso Mail " — 
a flourishing paper to this day — was published on 
the 30th April, 1797 ; and the opening editorial ad- 
dress, written by Ballantyne, was revised and re- 
written by Scott, who frequently sent prose commu- 
nications to the paper. 

In the autumn of 1799, Scott made a short raid 
into Liddesdale, and, being on a visit of a few days to 
his uncle at Rosebank, was visited by Ballantyne, 
who begged him to write a newspaper article on 
some legal question of the day. Mr. Lockhart, who 
tells the story, says, '' Scott talked of Lewis with 
rapture, and, after reciting some of his stanzas, said, 
' I ought to apologize to you for having troubled you 
with any thing of my own when I had things like 
this for your ear.' — ' I felt at once,' says Ballantyne, 
* that his own verses were far above what Lewis could 



104 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i799 

ever do ; and though, when I said this, he dissented, 
yet he seemed pleased with the warmth of my appro- 
bation.' At parting, Scott threw out a casual obser- 
vation, — that he wondered his old friend did not try 
to get some little bookseller's work ' to keep his 
types in play during the rest of the week.' Ballan- 
tyne answered, that such an idea had not before 
occurred to him ; that he had no acquaintance with 
the Edinburgh ' trade ; ' but, if he had, his types were 
good, and he thought he could afford to work more 
cheaply than town-printers. Scott, ' with his good- 
humored smile,' said, 'You had better try Avhat you 
can do. You have been praising my little balhids : 
suppose you print off a dozen copies or so of as many 
as will make a pamphlet, sufficient to let my Edin- 
burgh acquaintances judge of your skill for them- 
selves.' Ballantyne assented ; and I believe exactly 
twelve copies of ' William and Ellen,' ' The Fire-King,' 
' The Chase,' and a few more of those pieces, were 
thrown off accordingly, with the title (alluding to the 
long delay of Lewis's collection) of ' Apology for 
Tales of Terror: 1799.' This first specimen of a 
press, afterwards so celebrated, pleased Scott ; and he 
said to Ballantyne, ' I have been for years collecting 
old border-ballads ; and I think I could with little 
trouble put together such a selection from them as 
might make a neat little volume, to sell for four or 
five shillings. I will talk to some of the booksellers 
about it when I get to Edinburgh ; and, if the thing 
goes on, you shall be the printer.' Ballantyne highly 
relished the proposal ; and the result of this little 
experiment changed wholly the course of his worldly 
fortunes, as well as of his friend's." 

Such, undoubtedly, was the origin of the " Border 
Minstrelsy," and of all that followed. Immediately 
after, a circumstance occurred which gave compara- 
tive independence to a man of Scott's moderate habits 
and desires at that time. 



^T. 28.] SHERIFF OF SELKIRK. 105 

The office of Sheriff, which is of great antiquity, 
was originally the same in England and Scotland, and 
had high judicial functions attached to it. For a 
considerable time, it has been purely honorary and 
ministerial. It has been held by a female, and was 
hereditary in one family in Westmoreland until the 
extinction of the Earldom of Tlianet in 1849. It is 
an office of great dignity. The appointments are 
made annually in England ; and it often happens that 
some of the persons who are eligible for the office 
petition to be passed over, on the plea that they can- 
not afford the heavy expense. Refusal to serve is 
indictable. The actual duties are performed by an 
attorney, who is called the under-sheriff. In Scot- 
land, the lord-lieutenant of each county is sheriff- 
principal, and, as such, ranks every man in his 
county. The actual duties are executed by a sheriff- 
depute appointed by the crown, and by a sheriff- 
substitute ; both of whom, according to that good 
custom which secures the right men in the right 
places, retain their position for life, or during good 
behavior. None but a lawyer of a certain standing 
at the bar is eligible for either of these offices. Nei- 
ther of them can practise in any cause originating in 
his county, — where, in fact, he is a local judge, — 
but may practise elsewhere. For the most part, these 
offices are bestowed, through political influence, upon 
lawyers in actual practice ; the sheriff-substitute 
usually attending to his duty within the county ; the 
sheriff-depute visiting it, for that purpose, only on 
higher occasions. Frequently the sheriff-depute is a 
man of letters as well as of law. Thus the late 
Prof. Aytoun was sheriff-depute of Orkney and Shet- 
land ; Alison, the historian, held the same office in 
the county of Lanark; and his successor, Henry 
Glasford Bell, was formerly editor of " The Edinburgh 
Literary Journal." 



106 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i799 

Towards the close of 1799, the office of sheriff- 
depute of the county of Selkh"k became vacant. The 
tMrd Duke of Buccleugh, with Lord Montagu, his 
brother, — both of whom took a great interest in 
Scott, — used their influence ; and, other friends press- 
ing the suit, Walter Scott was appointed on the 16th 
of December, 1799. The salary of three hundred 
pounds raised his income to over one thousand 
pounds a year, — a sum which, in Scotland, in that 
period of low prices, was equal to at least thrice the 
amount at the present day. The duties of the office 
were far from heavy, — the district, small, peaceful, 
and pastoral, was, in great part, the property of the 
Duke of Buccleugh ; and Scott turned with redoubled 
zeal to his project of editing the ballads, many of the 
best of which belonged to this very district of his 
favorite border, — those " tales," which, as the dedica- 
tion of " The Minstrelsy" expresses it, had '' in elder 
times celebrated the prowess and cheered the halls " 
of his noble patron's ancestors. Her husband's new 
dignity rejoiced the heart of Mrs. Scott, who, though 
she cared little for poetry, had a woman's love for 
station and display. 

To this period belongs a criticism by Niebuhr, w^ho 
visited Edinburgh in 1799, and, being intimate with 
the Scott family, wrote to his father in Germany of 
" the eldest son, dull in appearance and intellect." 
It has been common to apply this opinion to Sir Wal- 
ter Scott (who, by the way, was then five years older 
than his critic), and quote it to show, that, like Sher- 
idan and some other eminent men, Scott was a dull 
boy. But Niebuhr knew, not Walter Scott's family, 
but that of Francis Scott, a cadet of the house of 
Harden (now represented by Lord Polwarth), who, 
having made a fortune in India, had settled in Edin- 
burgh. Nearly thirty years after this, Niebuhr told 
a visitor at Bonn that he had wondered all his life 



^T. 28.] NIEBUHR AND SCOTT. 107 

how Walter Scott could ever have become a distin- 
guished author, and was much surprised when in- 
formed that he was entirely mistaken in the identity ; 
for that the youth whom he had seen was only a 
namesake, and very distant cousin, of the great 
author. 

At the time of Scott's appointment to the office of 
sheriff, he received a visit from Mr. (afterwards Sir 
John) Stoddart, who had just published translations 
of Schiller's '' Fiesco " and '' Don Carlos," and heard 
from his lips many of the then unpublished poems of 
Wordsworth, Southey, and Coleridge, including " The 
Ancient Mariner," '' Love," and the never-to-be com- 
pleted fragment called " Christabel." The latter, 
with its facile and tuneful metre, which Thomas 
Wharton had used before, made a great impression 
upon him, and led to the particular variety of rhyme 
and rhythm, which was so novel and attractive, in 
'' The Lay of the Last Minstrel " and Scott's other 
long poems. 




CHAPTER VIII. 



Origin of "The Border Minstrelsy." — Richard Heber. — John Leyden. — 
"Lucy's Flitting." — The Ettrick Shepherd. — George Ellis. — The Border 
Press.-" Sir Tristrem." -William Motherwell. — Pinkerton. — Ritson. — 
Bishop Percy. — Ballantyne'a Removal to Edinburgh. — Visit to London. — 
Under the Oak in Windsor Park. — Bishop Heber. — Articles for " Edin- 
burgh Review." — Removal to Ashestiel. — Succession to Rosebank. — Visit 
from Wordsworth, — " Lay of the Last Minstrel." — Melrose by Moonlight. 

1800 1805. 

THE publication — if such it were, when only a 
dozen copies were printed — of the translations 
and original ballads which ought to have appeared 
in Monk Lewis's '' Tales of Terror," though primarily 
intended to show how well his Kelso friend, James 
Ballantyne, could print, appear to have awakened or 
confirmed in Walter Scott's mind the idea of mak- 
ing a selection from the border minstrelsy which he 
had been collecting, literally, since childhood. He 
wrote to Ballantyne, suggesting his migration from 
Kelso to Edinburgh, where he might edit and print 
a newspaper, and establish a monthly magazine and 
a Caledonian annual register ; holding out the pros- 
pect of obtaining the printing of the session law- 
papers, and hinting, " The publication of works, 
whether ancient or modern, opens a third fair field 
for ambition." The newspaper in Kelso might be 
continued, and, if pecuniary assistance were required, 
'' it might be procured, either upon terms of a share, 
or otherwise." Ballantyne did not then accept. 
In the winter of 1800, Richard Heber, an excel- 

108 



^T. 29.] JOHN LEYDEN. 109 

lent scholar, but more famous as having left behind 
him the largest, most miscellaneous, and most valu- 
able libraries ever collected by one man, made the 
acquaintance of Scott in Edinburgh ; and congenial 
tastes drew them closely together. Through him 
Scott came to know John Leyden, himself a native 
of the border, who, with manners not only brusque^ 
but bizarre^ was an attractive companion, congenial 
and conversable, with boundless enthusiasm for Scot- 
tish characters of the olden time, for Scottish poetry, 
music, and scenery, for hard study in every depart- 
ment, and with an energy and perseverance which 
nothing could extinguish. If his pen did not tire 
after twelve hours' copying for Scott in the Advo- 
cates' Library, neither did he spare his horse's speed, 
nor his own fatigue on foot, if thereby a new old bal- 
lad was to be procured at a distance, and brought to 
his friend. His stores of knowledge, and even of 
learning, self-accumulated in a shepherd's cottage, 
amid penury and privation, were remarkably exten- 
sive ; and his poetical feeling and taste were also 
very great. He knew, perhaps, more than Scott 
himself, about legend, tradition, and song; and had 
been picked up by Heber, who had made a raid on 
the obscure bookshop of Archibald Constable (then a 
young man with more energy than capital), and soon 
was hunting up old manuscripts for Scott. With his 
accustomed vigor, he threw himself into this pursuit, 
placed his own stores at Scott's disposal, and was a 
most useful assistant. His ambition was to go to the 
East, which Sir William Jones might be said to have 
conquered ; but the only vacant appointment was that 
of assistant surgeon. In six months, he qualified him- 
self to pass his examination as a doctor of medicine ; 
in 1803 published a volume of poems, entitled '' Scenes 
of Infancy ; " sailed to India ; raised for himself, within 
seven short years, the reputation of the most marvel- 



110 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i8oo 

lous of Oriental scholars ; and died in 1811, in the 
midst of the proudest hopes, at the same ac^e with 
Burns and Byron. In Scott's '' Miscellaneous Works " 
is a biography of Leyden, whom he dearly loved, — at 
once a noble memorial and a tribute of affection. 

Acknowledging the assistance that Leyden had 
given him in '' The Border Minstrelsy," Scott added, 
''An interesting fragment had l^een obtained of an 
ancient historical ballad ; but the remainder, to the 
great disturbance of the editor and his coadjutor, was 
not to be recovered. Two days afterwards, while 
the editor was sitting with some company after din- 
ner, a sound was heard at a distance like that of the 
whistling of a tempest through the torn rigging of 
the vessel which scuds before it. The sounds in- 
creased as they approached more near ; and Leyden 
(to the great astonishment of such of the guests as 
did not know him) burst into the room, chanting 
the desiderated ballad with the most enthusiastic 
gesture, and all the energy of what he used to call 
the saw-toneH of his voice. It turned out that he 
walked between forty and fifty miles, and back again, 
for the sole purpose of visiting an old person who 
possessed this precious remnant of antiquity." 

Robert Shortreed of Jedburgh, in whose company 
he had traversed Liddesdale during seven successive 
years, was another great lielp in quest of the materi- 
als of legendary lore which Scott recpiired. lie was 
also greatly indebted to William J^aidlaw, author of 
an exquisite homely poem, entitled " Lucy's Flitting," 
and to James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd. 

In the summer of 1801, in the Vale of Yarrow, Scott 
first saw Laidlaw, whose father, a respectable and 
wealthy sheep-farmer, had given him a good education. 
James Hogg had literally been a shepherd for ten years 
with J^aidlaw's father. Scott's visit being expected, 
Laidlow had prepared for it by writing down as many 



^T. 29.] LAIDLAW AND THE ETTRICK SHEPHERD. Ill 



old ballads as he could collect from the recitation of 
aged women in the neigliborhood and the singing of 
the servant-lasses. Scott, then in his second year 
of official duty as Sheriff, held a position which the 
simple country-folks estimated as one of the greatest 
power and dignity. At Blackhouse, as the Laidlaw 
farm was called, Scott and Leyden were received 
Avith cordial hospitality, such as afterwards served to 
heighten the delightful traits of rustic character in 
the delineation of Dandie Dinmont's home at Charlies- 
hope. There was a certain ballad, never put into 
print, named " Auld Maitland,'' which Laidlaw had 
taken down from the recitation or chanting of Hogg's 
uncle, who had learned it from his father ; and there 
was " quite a scene " (as the saying is) when this treas- 
ure was produced. Leyden would have seized the 
manuscript; but Scott said gravely that he would read 
it. Instantly, both saw that it was undoubtedly 
ancient ; and their eyes sparkled as they exchanged 
looks. Scott read with great fluency and emphasis. 
Leyden, like a roused lion, paced the room from side 
to side, and repeated such expressions as echoed the 
spirit of hatred to King Edward and the Southerns, 
or as otherwise struck his fancy. *' I had never be- 
fore seen any thing like this," said quiet Laidlaw ; 
" and, though the Sheriff kept his feelings under, he, 
too, was excited, so that his burr became very per- 
ceptible." The party passed on to St. Mary's Lake, 
sent for Hogg to dine with them, had a jovial even- 
ing, and Avent with him to his cottage next day, 
where they heard his mother recite '' Auld Maitland." 
Hence arose a friendship between Scott, Laidlaw, and 
Hogg, which ended but with life, — interrupted now 
and then by the petulance of the shepherd, as when 
he began a note with '' Damned sir," ending it with 
" Believe me, sir, yours with disgust." Laidlaw, 
who was personally connected with Scott as grieve 



112 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i8oi 

(land-steward) and amanuensis, was the last person, 
except Lockhart, to whom he spoke, consciously, a 
little before his death. 

About this time, Scott opened a correspondence 
with the venerable Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore, 
whose '' Reliques of Ancient Poetry " had deeply 
stirred his youthful spirit. All that he got from him 
was good wishes. Joseph Ritson, a noted antiqua- 
rian, critic, and collector of ancient poetry, who had 
bitterly assailed Bishop Percy for mutilating and mod- 
ernizing the old ballads (and, it now appears, not 
without cause), surprised every one who was aware 
of his general discourtesy and asperity by opening to 
Scott the stores of his really valuable and extensive 
learning. Mr. George Ellis, a man of ample fortune, 
great accomplishments, and elegant taste, who had 
recently edited a translation of the '' Faibliaux," and 
published '' Specimens of the Early English Poets," 
followed in later years by " Specimens of Early Eng- 
lish Romances in Metre," cheerfully assented to 
Scott's requests for advice and information, became 
one of his dearest friends, and introduced him to 
George Canning, afterwards prime-minister of Eng- 
land. In turn, Scott was able and willing to give 
assistance out of his own ample and rapidly-increas- 
ing stores of knowledge to the very persons whose 
help he had first requested. 

The summer and autumn of 1800 and 1801 were 
spent in the little cottage at Lasswade. In the close 
of the latter year, Scott removed to the house (39 
North Castle Street) which he continued to occupy 
until 1826. The Christmas of 1801 he passed at 
Hamilton Palace, the seat of the Duke of Hamilton, 
where a ruin on the banks of the Evan, with a legend 
attached, suggested the ballad of '' Cadyow Castle." 

Meanwhile, Ballantyne, who remained in Kelso, 
was proceeding with " The Minstr-elsy of the Scot- 



^r- 30 1 SARTEES' FRAUDS. 113 

tish Border." Two volumes were published in Feb- 
ruary, 1802, and a third in the summer of 1803 ; 
and the metrical romance of " Sir Tristrem," by 
Thomas the Rhymer (with a conclusion by Scott), 
appeared in May, 1804. 

Mr. William Motherwell, himself a poet of great 
tenderness (as witness his '' Jeannie Morrison," and 
" My heid is like to rend, Willie "), and editor of 
" Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern," estimated that 
forty-three ballads were first published by Scott. 
The arrangement, in the later editions, was changed. 
The full title of the work is, " Minstrelsy of the Scot- 
tish Border ; consisting of Historical and Romantic 
Ballads, collected in the Southern Counties of Scot- 
land, with a few of Modern Date, founded upon 
Local Tradition." Lowndes, the bibliographer, has 
affirmed that many of the border-ballads in this col- 
lection first appeared in George Caw's '' Poetical 
Museum," published at Hawick. 

With all his knowledge of border ballads, Scott 
was repeatedly " sold " by one of his particular 
friends, — Mr. Robert S^rtees, the historian of the 
County Palatine of Durham. In 1806, he received 
from this gentleman a professedly old ballad " On 
a Feud between the Ridleys and the Featherstones," 
which he had taken down (he said) from the recita- 
tion of an old woman on Alston Moor. Accepting it 
as genuine, Scott introduced a passage from it in 
" Marmion," and inserted the whole of it in the next 
edition of '' The Ministrelsy." In 1807, Mr. Sartees 
sent a ballad entitled " Lord Ewrie," adding several 
historical notes ; and Scott also accepted and pub- 
lished that. In 1809 came a ballad entitled '' Barth- 
ram's Dirge," composed by Mr. Sartees as the others 
had been, and also published by Scott. This triple 
fraud was perpetrated by Scott's " own familiar 
friend," who, no doubt, would have been angry if 



114 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i8o2 

any one had questioned his being a man of honor ! 
Sir Walter never was aware of this impudent imposi- 
tion, which did not become generally known until 
after Mr. S^rtees' death, early in 1834. Some other 
ballads in '' The Border Ministrelsy '* may not be 
more ancient than these. 

Ballantyne, though not a practical printer, had a 
good eye for typography, and was unsurpassed as a 
reader^ which, in his case, included revision of the 
manuscript, and correction of the press. He pur- 
chased new and handsome type for " The Minstrelsy," 
and had it carefully printed on paper much better than 
was usual at that time. Scott says, " When the 
book came out, the imprint, Kelso, was read with 
wonder by amateurs of typography, who had never 
heard of such a place, and were astonished at the 
example of handsome printing which so obscure a 
town had produced." In the course of the year, 
eight hundred copies, of which fifty were on large 
paper, were disposed of ; and Scott's share, on half- 
profits, brought him in £78. 10s. Subsequently, for 
the copyright of the whole work, he received five 
hundred pounds. 

Independent of the fact that most of the ballads 
were new to the public, and that the text of the 
rest had been carefull}^ revised and corrected, the 
graceful and intelligent prose interspersed through- 
out, rich with curious learning, and enlivened by 
many a pleasant traditionary anecdote, served to 
constitute the whole as a most agreeable melange. In 
the notes to these collections, and to Scott's subse- 
quent long narrative poems, will be found the germs 
of several of the Waverley novels, — incidents, tra- 
ditions, glimpses of historical characters. Curious in- 
quirers in after-days, who remembered these notes, 
had no difficulty in deciding who " the Great Un- 
known " really was. 



i^r. 31.] "THE MINSTRELSY." 115 

Among the embellishments of the first series of " The 
Minstrelsy " was a view of Hermitage Castle, the 
history of which is thus told by Lockhart : '' Scott 
executed a rouo'h sketch of it durino: the last of his 
' Liddesdale raids ' with Shortreed, standing for that 
purpose, for an hour or more, up to his middle in the 
snow. Nothing can be ruder than the performance, 
which I have now before me : but his friend William 
Clerk made a better drawing from it ; and from his a 
tliird and further-improved copy was done by Hugh 
Williams, the elegant artist, afterwards known as 
* Greek Williams.' Scott used to say the oddest 
thing of all was, that the engraving, founded on the 
labors of three draughtsmen, — one of Avhom could not 
draw a straight line, and the two others had never 
seen the place meant to be represented, — was, never- 
theless, pronounced by the natives of Liddesdale 
to give a very fair notion of the ruins of Hermit- 
age." 

The reception of " The Minstrelsy " in Scotland 
was very favorable. Praise from persons whose 
eulogy was valuable poured in from England. George 
Ellis, a laborer in a similar field, praised the literary 
and typographic execution. The Duke of Rox- 
burgh gave hearty commendation from himself, as 
well as from Earl Spencer, a literary connoisseur, 
who was also a book-collector of high repute. Alex- 
ander Chalmers approved. Joseph Ritson, so diffi- 
cult to be pleased, wrote that he looked on his pres- 
entation-copy as " the most valuable literary treas- 
ure in his possession." Anna Seward sent her gentle 
congratulations. And, to crown all, John Pinkerton, 
who, twenty years before, had published a collection 
of " Scottish Ballads, Tragic and Comic," and tried to 
pass off some of his own compositions as ancient, 
sent a message, that Scott had done a good work hon- 
estly and well. 



116 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1803 

Ballantyne, who had gone to no small expense to 
acquire a character of elegant printing at what he 
now called the Border Press, did remove to Edin- 
burgh about the end of 1802, putting up his press in 
the precincts of Hol3^rood House. He soon got em- 
ployment ; and one of the first works which passed 
through his hands about this time was on^ of Rit- 
son's, which nearly broke the hearts of compositors, 
readers, and publisher, by its author's persistency in 
spelling according to the pronunciation. 

Having dismissed "The Minstrelsy" and "Sir 
Tristrem" from his hands, and now more of an 
author than before, — 

" 'Tis pleasant, sure, to see one's self in print," — 

Scott seriously thought of writing an original poem 
of considerable length. In the winter of 1802, he 
mentions, in a letter to Ellis, " a long poem of my 
own. It will be a kind of romance of border chiv- 
alry, in a light-horseman sort of stanza." In an- 
other letter (January, 1803) he wrote, " I have 
called it ' The Lay of the Last Minstrel,' and put 
it into the mouth of an old bard, who is supposed to 
have survived all his brethren, and to have lived 
down to 1690." 

In April, 1803, after the second edition of " The 
Minstrelsy," Walter Scott and wife again went to 
London, reporting thence that the fine printing had 
given the work some eclat even there. His head- 
quarters were in Piccadilly, under the roof of Mr. 
Charles Dumergue, surgeon-dentist to the ro3^al fam- 
ily, who had been acquainted with Mrs. Scott's 
parents in France, and had warmly befriended her 
mother on her first arrival in England. Here, until 
his eldest daughter was established in London, he 
always lodged. He had a warm reception. Heber 
and Mackintosh, Rogers and William Stuart Rose, 



^T. 32.] BISHOP HEBER. 117 

with other men of literary eminence, welcomed him. 
He worked hard in the Duke of Roxburgh's library, 
making extracts from the manuscripts therein for 
notes to " Sir Tristrem ; " and the collection of Mr. 
Francis Douce, the antiquary, was also placed at his 
command. After this, he spent a week with Mr. and 
Mrs. Ellis at Sunninghill, and, under an old oak in 
Windsor Park, read to these friends and his wife the 
first two or three cantos of " The Lay." From Lon- 
don to Oxford in company with Richard Heber, 
where Scott first saw his friend's brother Reginald, 
then only twenty years old, afterwards Bishop of 
Calcutta, who had just been successful writer of the 
university prize-poem for the year, and read to Scott 
at breakfast, in Brazen-nose College, the manuscript 
of his " Palestine." Scott observed, that, in the 
verses on Solomon's Temple, one striking circum- 
stance had escaped him ; namely, that no tools were 
used in its erection. Reginald retired for a few 
minutes to the corner of the room, and returned with 
the beautiful lines : — 

" No hammer fell ; no ponderous axes rung : 
Like some tall palm, the mystic fabric sprung. 
Majestic silence," &c. 

After a week at Oxford, which some one has hap- 
pily entitled the land- Venice, Mr. Scott returned to 
Edinburgh in the middle of May; writing to Ellis, 
that he "should have been enchanted to have spent a 
couple of months among the curious libraries " of 
Oxford. Soon after his return, he wrote his first 
article for " The Edinburgh Review," which had been 
established in October, 1802, on the suggestion of 
Sydney Smith, under the editorship of Francis Jeffrey, 
with assistance from Henry Brougham, Francis 
Homer, and other young men of talent. Scott's 



118 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1803 

critique was upon Soutliey's " Amadis of Gaul." In 
the same number he reviewed four other works, in- 
chiding his friend Ellis's " Ancient English Poetry." 
He was a very gentle critic, little addicted to fault- 
finding, mild in his expression of disapprobation, 
never very analytic, and generally embroidering the 
subject, whatever it might be, with lively anecdotic 
illustration. Altogether, in 1803-6, he wrote four- 
teen articles for " The Edinburgh Review." 

Lord Napier, then lord-lieutenant of Selkirkshire, 
regretted that Scott's active service in the Edinburgh 
Lighthorse Corps, and his non-residence within the 
limits of his shrievalty, had prevented his attendance 
at some county-meetings held to organize volunteer 
companies of Ettrick Forest ; a French invasion being 
then anticipated. He declined giving up his military 
duties in Edinburgh, but resolved to obey the law, 
which required the sheriff to reside within his own 
jurisdiction at least four months in the year. This 
induced him to leave Lasswade, and remove to 
Ashestiel, the property of his cousin, who was in 
India. He leased the house and grounds on the 
bank of the Tweed, with a small farm ; and changed 
his residence thither in June, 1804. In the same 
month, he succeeded, by the death of his uncle, Capt. 
Thomas Scott, to the villa of Rosebank, near Kelso, 
lower down on the Tweed, with thirty acres of some 
of the finest land in Scotland. It was at an incon- 
venient distance for the legatee, Avho declared he 
would dispose of it, "buy a mountain-farm with 
the purchase-money, and be quite the laird of the 
cairn and the scaur." The property sold, that year, 
for five thousand pounds ; and Scott also inherited 
six hundred pounds more from his uncle's estate. 
The interest, independent of any proceeds from liter- 
ary labor, raised his income to considerably above a 
thousand pounds a year. Mrs. Scott, before this, 



/ET. 32.] VISITED BY WORDSWORTH. 119 

had the satisfaction of riding in her own carriage 
(the original, modest proposal had been to pay some 
thirty guineas for a second-hand landau from Lon- 
don) ; and her husband had already resolved to pur- 
chase land, and, if necessary, build a cottage upon it. 
We shall see, by and by, how the farm became a 
large estate, and the cottage a castle. 

Wordsworth the poet, and his sister, returning from 
a tour through the Highlands, paid Scott a visit at 
Lass wade in the autumn of 1803. At no time was 
the English poet much pleased with the song of the 
Scottish minstrel ; but, when he heard the first four 
cantos of ''The Lay of the Last Minstrel," — partly 
read, and partly recited, sometimes in an enthusiastic 
style of chant, — the novelty of the manners, the clear, 
picturesque description, and the easy, glowing energy 
of much of the verse, greatly delighted him. To- 
gether they visited Roslin Chapel with its beautiful 
architecture, and Melrose with the still lovelier aspect 
of romantic ruin. Together they traversed much of 
the border-land, which Scott knew and loved so well. 
According to Lockhart, the impression on Mr. Words- 
worth's mind was, that, on the whole, he attached 
much less importance to his literary labors or reputa- 
tion than to his bodily sports, exercises, and social 
amusements : and yet he spoke of his profession as 
if he had already given up almost all hope of rising 
by it ; and, some allusion being made to its profits, 
observed, that '' he was sure he could, if he chose, get 
more money than he should ever wish to have from 
the booksellers." 

The imitations in " The Minstrelsy" set James Hogg 
to follow in the same path. It is an old story, that 
when in Edinburgh, being invited to dine with Wil- 
liam Laidlaw at Scott's, he made himself very much 
at home, reclined at full-length on a sofa, in imita- 



120 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1803 

tion of Mrs. Scott, who, being something of an inva- 
lid at the time, found it necessary thus to repose ; 
became more than genial under the influence of the 
sheriff's hospitality, until, from "Mr. Scott," he 
familiarly advanced to " Sherra," and thence to 
'' Scott," " Walter," and " Wattie," until at supper 
he fairly convulsed the whole party by addressing 
Mrs. Scott as '' Charlotte." 

Constable was induced to publish Hogg's verses, 
entitled " The Mountain Bard ; " and the book ob- 
tained considerable reputation for the shepherd 
when it became known that his school-education had 
not extended over six months, nor cost more than two 
or three shillings. At the age of seven, he had begun 
to herd cattle. At fourteen, he was advanced to the 
dignity of assistant-shepherd. He taught himself to 
play the violin, and to compose songs long before he 
could write them upon the slate ; and not until he 
was eighteen did he obtain the perusal of any book 
except the Bible. Next he met with "The Life of 
Sir William Wallace," and Allan Ramsay's " Gentle 
Shepherd," and now and then saw a newspaper. 
From his eighteenth to his twenty-eighth year he 
was shepherd to William Laidlaw's father, who en- 
abled him to remedy the defects of his very defective 
education. After the death of Robert Burns, he first 
heard of that poet ; first heard " Tam O'Shanter " re- 
peated, and was delighted with it. The publication 
of " The Mountain Bard " produced him a profit of 
nearly three hundred pounds, — an immense sum to 
him, which he soon lost by sheep-farming on his 
own account. 

Apropos of poetry, only a hundred and fifty copies 
of " Sir Tristrem " were published by Mr. Constable 
of Edinburgh, as the first edition, in May, 1804. To 
cover cost, the price was two guineas, being the first 



^T. 32.] REMOVES TO ASHESTIEL. 121 

experiment of that costly sort. Subsequent editions 
in 1806 and 1811 were respectively seven hundred 
and fifty and a thousand. 

Ashestiel, to which the Scotts removed, was a resi- 
dence not extensive, but considerably larger than the 
cottage at Lasswade, as required by an increasing 
family: for there now were three children, — viz., 
Charlotte Sophia, afterwards Mrs. Lockhart, born on 
Nov. 15, 1799 ; Walter, on Oct. 28, 1801 ; and Anne, 
on Feb. 2, 1803. Charles, the youngest and last, was 
born on Christmas Eve, 1805. Scott wrote to Ellis 
that his new residence was totally built in by moun- 
tains ; that he was seven miles from kirk and mar- 
ket ; that he killed his own mutton and poultry ; 
and, to prevent the chance of his family turning 
pagan, had adopted the goodly practice of reading 
prayers every Sunday to his household. His father 
was a Presbyterian ; but Walter Scott was a member 
of the Scottish-Episcopal Church. He had an idea, 
not responded to by Hogg, of placing him as manager 
of the farm, but installed in his place Thomas Purdie, 
originally brought before him, in his capacity of sher- 
iff, on a charge of poaching ; taken into employment, 
first as shepherd, and finally as grieve, or factotum, 
and proving himself true and trusty until death. 
Scott drove their little phaeton so clumsily as more 
than once to put his wife in danger of an overturn ; 
and Tom Purdie's brother-in-law, Peter Mathieson, 
was made coachman, and, soon after, was the proud 
driver of the close carriage which Scott was per- 
suaded to set up. 

Late in 1804, " The Lay " was in the hands of 
James Ballantyne, to whom, on his advent to Edin- 
burgh, a considerable sum of money had been lent 
by Scott to enable him to commence business there. 
He possessed considerable literary abilities. Scott 



122 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1805 

intrusted to him a close inquisition as to inaccuracies 
of composition, meaning, and spelling, in manuscript 
and proof-sheets ; and his efficiency in that respect 
was great. His judgment on other men's style was 
excellent ; and, with great intrepidity, he arraigned, 
not merely Scott's halting metre and careless rhymes, 
but what he considered to be errors of sense, senti- 
ment, or expression. Scott usually adopted most of his 
shrewd suggestions. When in doubt, he referred to 
his friend William Erskine, whose high culture and 
exquisite taste were all that could be required. From 
this time to the close of his literary career, James 
Ballantyne rigidly exercised this critical vigilance 
over Walter Scott's works. The advantage to the 
author — who wrote very carelessly and hurriedly, 
usually sending his manuscript to the printer without 
reading it ' over — of the assistance thus rendered 
by James Ballantyne was indispensable and impor- 
tant. 

In the first week of January, 1805, " The Lay " 
was published ; and, as Mr. Lockhart truly says, its 
success at once decided that literature should form 
the main business of Scott's life. In his original an- 
nouncement to his friend Ellis, Walter Scott had 
spoken of this poem as being " in a light-horseman 
sort of stanza." Mr. Lockhart thinks that this de- 
scription was suggested by the circumstances under 
which it was written. Scott " has told us, in his Intro- 
duction of 1830, that the poem originated in a request 
of the young and lovely Countess of Dalkeith [after- 
wards Duchess of Buccleugh, who died suddenly in 
1814], that he would write a ballad on the legend of 
Gilpin Horner; that he began it at Lasswade, and 
read the opening stanzas, as soon as they were writ- 
ten, to his friends Erskine and Cranston n ; that their 
reception of these was apparently so cold as to dis- 



^^T. 34.] " LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL." 123 

courage him, and disgust him with what he had 
done ; but that — finding, a few days afterwards, that 
the stanzas had, nevertheless, excited their curiosity, 
and haunted their memory — he was encouraged to 
resume the undertaking. While the troop were on 
permanent duty at Musselburgh, in the autumnal 
recess of 1802, the quartermaster, during a charge on 
Portobello sands, received a kick of a horse, which 
confined him for three days to his lodgings. Mr. 
Skene found him busy with his pen ; and he produced, 
before these three days expired, the first canto of ' The 
Lay,' very nearly, if his friend's memory may be 
trusted, in the state in which it was ultimately pub- 
lished. That the whole poem Avas sketched and 
filled in with extraordinary rapidity, there can be no 
difficulty in believing. He himself says (in the In- 
troduction of 1830), that, after he had once got fairly 
into the vein, it proceeded at the rate of about a 
canto in a week. ' The Lay,' however, like ' The Tris- 
trem,' soon outgrew the dimensions which he had 
originally contemplated. The design of including it 
in the third volume of ' The Minstrelsy ' was, of 
course, abandoned ; and it did not appear until nearly 
three years after that fortunate mishap on the beach 
of Portobello." 

Gilpin Horner, the dwarf, was no very poetical 
personage. He came, he made mischief, and he van- 
ished. Scott probably thought, that, of the ordinary 
ballad metre, enough, and more than enough, had 
lately been placed before the public. The variet}^ of 
diction and rhyme which had charmed him in Cole- 
ridge's unpublished " Christabel " had infused its 
music into his memory ; and he resolved to employ 
that. At the first request of Lady Dalkeith, — of 
fair dame to minstrel, — perhaps he thought a single 
scene in Branksome Tower, disturbed by a mischiev- 
ous imp, might answer ; but, writing as it were to 



124 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1805 

the sound of the bugle, there may have arisen the 
purpose of reviving the hurry and scurry of the old 
border-life, when men passed half their time on 
horseback, and were familiar with peril and adven- 
ture ; and the editor of '* The Minstrelsy," whose 
mind was filled with the romantic records of that 
time and life, could have had no difficulty in rushing 
such a story on. To avoid tediousness, the natural 
division into cantos would suggest itself. Lastly 
came the idea of setting this picture of border-chiv- 
alry in an introduction, which should have for its 
own hero the venerable Latest Minstrel. 

The measure of ''Christabel " was adopted, be- 
cause the singularly irregular structure of the stan- 
zas, and the liberty which it allowed the author to 
adapt the sound to the sense, seemed exactly suited 
to such an extravagant story as he had to tell. " As 
applied to comic and humorous poetry, this mesco- 
lanza of measures had been already applied by An- 
thony Hall, Anstey, Dr. Wolcott, and others ; but it 
was in ' Christabel,' " Scott said, " that I first found 
it used in serious poetry." He believed that the at- 
tempt to return to a more simple and natural style 
of poetry was likely to be welcomed at a time when 
the public had become tired of heroic hexameters, 
with all the buckram and binding which belong to 
them of later days. 

The scene was familiar to him from youth. The 
tale was supposed to be related to the Duchess of 
Buccleugh, representative of the ancient lords of 
Buccleugh, and widow of the unfortunate Duke 
of Monmouth, who was consigned to the scaffold in 
1685. The time occupied by the action was three 
nights and three days ; and the poem was put into 
the mouth of an ancient minstrel, — last of the race, — 
soon after the Revolution of 1688. Newark Castle, 
in which the minstrel sang, stood upon the banks of 



^ET. 34.] ORIGIN OF THE POEM. 125 

the Yarrow, three miles from Selkirk, and had been 
the residence of the widowed duchess ; and Brank- 
some Tower, on the Teviot, near Hawick, was the 
principal seat of the Buccleugh family while security 
was any object in their choice of a mansion. Lord 
Cranstoun's " goblin page " was the Gilpin Horner 
of the legend, firmly believed by many in the border- 
land, which the Countess of Dalkeith suggested to 
Scott as the subject of a ballad. The boldest inci- 
dent in the poem is the opening of the grave of 
the wizard Michael Scott by William of Deloraine, 
who took therefrom the magician's Book of Might, 
which the Ladye of Branksome Tower, herself a 
dabbler in theurgy, desired to consult. The com- 
bat between Lord Cranstoun and the trooper, in 
which the latter is wounded ; the finding of the 
book by the goblin page, who reads sufficient of 
it to show him how to 

" Make a ladye seem a knight, 
And youth seem age, and age seem youth ; ** 

his own transformation into the similitude of young 
Buccleugh, at Branksome, while the boy is really a 
prisoner in the hands of English Lord Dacre ; the 
feuds between the Scots and the English, — are related 
with freshness and vigor ; and the loves of Cranstoun 
and fair Margaret Scott are brought before the reader 
with a tenderness, which, at times, is almost pathetic. 
Scott's own lost love is said to have been described in 
Margaret. The evanishment of the goblin page and 
the apparition of the dead wizard are powerful and 
effective descriptions ; and the climax, ending with 
the pilgrimage to Melrose Abbey, and solemn chant, 
" Dies tree, dies illa^^^ form a conclusion at once 
imposing, new, and characteristic of the era of the 
legend. 



126 SIR WALTER SCOTT^ [1805 

The poetical introductions to each canto, with the 
minstrel's closing days, cheered by the bounty of Her 
of Buccleugh, constitute a charming feature of this 
poem. The diffidence of the wandering harper after 
he enters Newark Castle, his renewed confidence, 
which induces him to intimate, that, 

" Would the noble Duchess deign 
To listen to an old man's strain, 
Though stiff his hand, his voice though weak, 
He thought even yet, the sooth to speak, 
That, if she loved the harp to hear, 
He could make music to her ear," 

is natural. And then follow perhaps the most ex- 
pressive lines that Scott ever wrote ; — 

" Tlie humble boon was soon obtained : 
The Aged Minstrel audience gained. 
But when he reached the room of state, 
Wh(;rc she, with all her ladies, sate, 
Perchance he wished his boon denied : 
For, when to tune his harp he tried, 
His trembling hand had lost the ease 
Which marks security to please ; 
And scenes long past, of joy and pain, 
Came wildering o'er his aged brain : 
He tried to tune his harp in vain. 

The pitying Duchess praised its chime, 
And gave him heart and gave him time. 
Till every string's according glee 
Was blended into harmony. 
And then, he said, he would full fain 
He could recall an ancient strain 
He never thought to sing again. 
It was not framed for village churls. 
But for high dames and mighty earls. 
He had played to King Charles the Good 
When he kept court in Holyrood ; 
And much he wished, yet feared, to try 
The long-forgotten melody. 



.tr. 34.] POPULAR PASSAGES. 127 

Amid the strings his fingers strayed, 
And an uncertain warbling made ; 
And oft he shook his hoary head. 
Bat, when he caught the measure wild, 
The old man raised his face, and smiled; 
A nd lightened up his faded eye 
With all a poet's ecstasy. 
In varying cadence, soft or strong, 
He swept the sounding chords along : 
The present scene, the future lot. 
His toih, his wants, were all forgot; 
Cold diffidence and age's frost 
In the full tide of song were lost ; 
Each blank, in faithless memory void, 
The poet's glowing thought supplied : 
And, while his heart responsive rung, 
*Twas thus the Latest Minstrel sung." 

It would be difficult to match the truth of the coup- 
lets I have put in Italics ; and the concluding para- 
graph is as exquisite a bit of word-painting as can be 
found in the whole range of modern poetry. 

The opening of the third canto contains a passage 
much quoted formerly : — 

" In peace, Love tunes the shepherd's reed ; 
In war, he mounts the warrior's steed ; 
In halls, in gay attire is seen ; 
In hamlets, dances on the green : 
Love rules the court, the camp, the grove, 
And men below, and saints above ; 
For love is heaven, and heaven is love.'* 

The fifth canto opens with the touching lines : — 

" Call it not vain : they do not err. 
Who say, that, when the poet dies. 
Mute Nature mourns her worshipper, 
And celebrates his obsequies," &c. 

And the commencement of the last canto, oft quoted 
though it be, is worthy of the highest praise. The 
first lines are, — 



128 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1805 

" Breathes there a man, with soul so dead, 
Who never to himself hath said, 

' This is my own, my native land ! ' " 

And not the imaginary minstrel of the romance, but 
the Poet, in his own person, speaks in the next 
stanza : — 

" O Caledonia ! stem and wild, 
Meet nm-se for a poetic child, 
Land of brown heath and shaggy wood, 
Land of the mountain and the flood. 
Land of my sires ! what mortal hand 
Can e'er untie the fiUal band 
That knits me to thy rugged strand ? 
Still as I view each well-known scene, 
Think what is now, and what hath been, 
Seems as, to me, of all bereft. 
Sole friends thy woods and streams were left ; 
And thus I love thee better still, 
Even in extremity of ill. 
By Yarrow's streams still let me stray, 
Though none should guide my feeble way ; 
Still feel the breeze down Ettrick break, 
Although it chill my withered cheek ; 
Still lay my head by Teviot Stone, 
Though there, forgotten, and alone, 
The Bard may draw his parting groan." 



Among the most admired, most quoted passages in 
this poem is the description of Melrose Abbey by 
moonlight. It is put into the mouth of the Wan- 
dering Minstrel, in the opening of the second canto, 
and reads thus : — 



" If thou wouldst view fair Melrose aright, 
Go visit it by the pale moonlight ; 
For the gay beams of lightsome day 
Gild, but to flout, the ruins gray. 
When the broken arches are black in night, 
And each shafted oriel glimmers white ; 



^ET. 34.] MELROSE UNVISITED. 129 

When the cold light's uncertain shower 

Streams on the ruined central tower ; 

When buttress and buttress, alternately, 

Seem framed of ebon and ivory ; 

When silver edges the imagery, 

And the scrolls that teach thee to live and die ; 

When distant Tweed is heard to rave, 

And the owlet to hoot o'er the dead man's grave, — 

Then go, — but go alone the while, — 

Then view St. David's ruined pile ; 

And, home returning, soothly swear, 

Was never scene so sad and fair." 

There are two rather amusing anecdotes connected 
with these lines. The first I give on the authority 
of Miss Edgeworth, who declared, that in 1823, while 
she was visiting Scott at Abbottsford, she proposed, 
one moonlight night, that he should take her to see 
Melrose, quoting his own lines : — 

" If thou wouldst view fair Melrose aright, 
Go visit it by the pale moonlight." 

Scott readily assented, saying, " By all means let us 
go ; for I myself have never seen Melrose hy moon- 
lightr 

In one of his letters to Bernard Barton, the Quaker 
poet, published in his Biography by Lucy Barton, his 
daughter, in 1856, Scott frankly confessed that he 
drew solely on his imagination for the picture ; not 
having seen Melrose, except in daylight, until many 
years after " The Lay '^ was written. 

On another occasion, when a lady asked him to 
copy the lines into her album, he complied with his 
usual good nature ; but instead of the usual ending, — 

" Then go, — but go alon^ the while, — 
Then view St. David's ruined pile ; 
And, home returning, soothly swear, 
Was never .scene so sad and. fair," — 



130 



SIR WALTER SCOTT. 



[1805. 



the poet penned this variation, which was at once 
true and new ; — 

« Then go, and meditate with awe 
On scenes the author never saw; 
Who never wandered by the moon 
To see what could be seen by noon." 




CHAPTER IX. 



Reception of " The Lay." — Jeffrey, Thomas Campbell, Miss Seward, Words- 
worth, Southey. — Fox and Pitt. — Partnership with Ballantyne. — Home 
Ilabits. — " Waverley " begun. — Helvellyn. — Rumor of Invasion. — Clerk 
of Session. — A Lion in London. — J.H. Frere.Canninar, and Joanna Baillie. — 
"The Melville Ballad." — " Marmion." — The Introductions. — Tributes to 
Pitt and Fox. — " Rejected Addresses." — The Trial Scene. — Jeffrey's Cri- 
tique. — Philip Freneau. — Edition of Dryden. — Morritt of Rokeby. — At 
Home. 

1805—^808. 

«' rr^HE Lay of the Last Minstrel " excited more at- 
■ tentiou, and won more admiration, than per- 
haps any narrative poem produced in England up to 
that time. It had been submitted in manuscript to 
Mr. Jeffrey, who graciously put his imprimatur upon 
it, and very warmly praised it in "The Edinburgh 
Review," No. VI. The introductory and conclud- 
ing lines of each canto, the setting^ as it were, were 
commended as being " in the very first rank of po- 
etical excellence." The poem, as a whole, was 
greatly commended ; but the Goblin Page was set 
down as its '' capital deformit}^" Thomas Campbell, 
who had known Scott some years before in Edin- 
burgh, and was indebted to him for kindness when 
he published " The Pleasures of Hope " at the age 
of twenty, had seen some of the- more striking pas- 
sages of '* The Lay " in manuscript, and predicted its 
unbounded success. Miss Seward, a great authority 
at that time, praised it warmly ; and Scott finally 
confessed to her that the dwarf page was an excres- 

131 



132 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1B05 

cence. Ellis and Frere, very competent southern 
critics, united in complaining that Jeffrey had not 
praised it sufficiently. Wordsworth condescended 
to commend it generally, with the reservation that it 
was written against his views of poetry ; and Southey, 
though warmer, seemed scarcely better satisfied, — 
so different was the rapid rush of the narrative from 
the heavy blank-verse march of " Joan of Arc " and 
the measured rhythm of " Thalaba." The leading re- 
views rivalled Jeffrey in giving it high praise. Charles 
James Fox, a scholar who sometimes snatched a few 
hours for literature from his politics and pleasures, 
declared his satisfaction with the poem, though he 
protested against the eulogy upon Claverhouse. Last 
of all, William Pitt found or made time to read it, 
and at dinner with Dundas, Scott's early friend, re- 
peated the lines quoted in the preceding chapter, de- 
scribing the minstrel's embarrassment when asked to 
play ; saying, " This is a sort of thing which I might 
have expected in painting, but could never have fan- 
cied capable of being given in poetry." He made in- 
quiries as to the author's position in life, and said to 
Dundas, who then regulated promotions and appoint- 
ments in Scotland, '' He can't remain as he is : look 
to it." The result was very favorable, shortly after, 
for the poet. 

The first edition of " The Lay " was, to the number 
of seven hundred and fifty copies in quarto, immedi- 
ately exhausted, and succeeded by sixteen thousand 
five hundred copies up to 1812, exclusive of another 
quarto edition of three thousand within these seven 
years. Before 1830, nearly forty-four thousand 
copies had circulated. This is nothing like the sale 
of some American publications : but the Americans 
are a nation of readers so numerous, that publishers 
can afford to supply their wants at low prices ; where- 
as the English, at the time in question, had to give 



^T. 34.] BECOMES A PRINTER. 133 

from two guineas to twelve shillings for a single poem. 
" The Lay," on half profits, gave Scott a pa3'ment of 
£Q0. 6s. ; but, when a second edition was immedi- 
ately called for, the publishers gave him five hun- 
di-ed pounds for the copyright, to which they added 
a hundred pounds subsequently. The whole prof- 
its of the author, then, were six hundred and sixty- 
nine pounds, — the largest amount, up to that time, 
ever paid for one poem in the Enghsh language. 

There arose a demand for this money, and more. 
Ballantyne asked the loan of a considerable sum to 
enable him to carry on his printing-office ; and Scott 
offered to make the required advance on condition 
that he was admitted to one-third share of the business. 
The amount, I believe, was five thousand pounds. 
A very unfortunate measure this partnership was, — 
on one hand, involving a heavy mental and pecuniary 
responsibility ; on the other, initiating him into the 
facile process of putting the future in pawn, by rais- 
ing money on notes, not merely " for value received," 
but for works not written, — works which were not 
yet even in the author's mind. After the publication 
of " The Lay," it would have been easy for Scott to 
have given up the practice of the law (which in his 
best year had yielded only two hundred pounds), and 
settle down in the country, with a thousand pounds 
a year from official income and personal resources, 
with the certainty, if he pleased, of making a large 
additional sum by very moderate exercise of his pen. 
His very success in literature was against him at the 
bar, where he was eclipsed by patient plodders, as 
well as by men of ability : so he resolved to leave 
the bar when circumstances would permit. 

After this first great success, " I determined," 
he said, " that literature should be my staff, but not 
my crutch ; and that the profits of my literary labor, 
however convenient otherwise, should not, if I could 



134 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [iSo^ 

help it, become necessary to my ordinary expenses." 
He resolved, that, without shutting his ears to true 
criticism, he would pay no attention to that which 
assumed the form of satire. The result was, he never 
was involved in a literary quarrel or controversy, and 
succeeded in gaining and retaining the personal 
friendship of his most approved contemporaries. 

He kept concealed from all his friends, except Mr. 
Erskine, that he had embarked in the printing con- 
cern of James Ballantyne & Co., — partly, it may be, 
because, as his phrenological friend, Mr. George 
Combe, would have said, of a strong cranial develop- 
ment of the organ of secretiveness ; but chiefly, I 
suspect, because it was considered unprofessional for 
a lawyer also to be a trader. The concealment gave 
him great advantages as a trader. He made a rule, 
that whatever he wrote or edited should be printed 
at the Ballantyne press ; and it came to be understood 
that his co-operation in any literary scheme was con- 
tingent on this rule being rigidly observed. He 
suggested a variety of publications to his friends of 
" the trade " in London, among which was a com- 
plete edition of all the British poets, ancient and 
modern, — " at least a hundred volumes, to be pub- 
lished at the rate of ten a year," — an idea originating 
with Thomas Campbell, out of which came the 
" Specimens of English Poetry," illustrated with bio- 
graphical and critical essays, by the Bard of Hope, 
and an edition and biography of Dryden, in eighteen 
volumes, by Scott. He was willing to edit what he 
called a " Corpus Historiarum,'' or full edition of the 
Chronicles of England, an immense work, beginning 
with Holinshed, for a small compensation, provided 
the printing was given to Ballantyne & Co. In 
short, he was keen after business. Fresh funds 
being required, he obtained the money, as if for 
Ballantyne individually, from Forbes's bank. 



^^T. 34-] "VVAVERLEY" BEGUN. 135 

In 1805 he began, with the view of publishing it 
before Christmas, a Scottish novel, entitled '' Waver- 
ley." When he reached the seventh chapter, he 
showed the work to a critical friend (William 
Erskine), whose opinion was unfavorable; and, being 
unwilling to risk the reputation he had gained by 
" The Lay," he put the unfinished sheets away. They 
did not turn up again for some years ; after which, 
it must be confessed, the world heard of them. 

Scott now was settled in Ashestiel. His friend 
Skene, who visited him there, discovered, that whereas 
his practice had been to work at his writing-table 
for some hours after he was supposed to have retired 
to bed, now, warned by his physicians, and resolved 
not to relinquish his habits of industry, he rose by 
five o'clock, lit his own fire when the season required 
one (this was to spare a servant's labor), made his 
toilet with great deliberation (for he was very neat 
in his attire), and, eschewing the coxcombry of a 
dressing-gown, put on the morning-dress he meant 
to wear until dinner-time. He was at his desk by 
six, wrote until breakfast (between nine and ten), 
and resumed his labors until noon ; by which time he 
would have really done a day's work. If the weather 
suited, he would be on horseback by one o'clock at 
the latest ; would be ready to start by ten if a dis- 
tant excursion was in view ; but, on wet days, kept 
continuously at the desk, working double tides, he 
would say, so as to create a fund upon which he 
could draw for fine weather. He was very fond of 
dogs of all sorts and sizes ; and was fond of having 
one couchant before him, within ready glance of his 
eye, when writing. Though lame, he was extremely 
active, and fond of athletic sports and exercises ; as, 
indeed, the poems as well as the novels show. 

This autumn (1805), Scott took his wife on a tour 
to the Lakes of Cumberland and Westmoreland, the 



136 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1805 

finest scenery of which he visited with Wordsworth. 
Both climbed Helvellyn (a local mountain) in com- 
pany with Sir Humphry Davy, the great chemist ; 
and both wrote stanzas on the death of a young gen- 
tleman, who, having lost his way, had fallen over a 
precipice ; his remains being found three months after- 
wards, still watched by his dog. Scott carried his 
wife from Grasmere to Gilsland, the scene of their 
brief courtship in 1797. The land was full of rumors 
that a French force was about to land in Scotland. 
Scott, who fortunately had accompanied on horseback 
the carriage in which his wife travelled, mounted his 
steed, rode a hundred miles within twenty-four hours 
to the place of rendezvous, found that it v/as a false 
alarm, a beacon having been lighted by mistake, and, 
ten years afterwards, used the incident in " The Anti- 
quary." 

On his return to Ashestiel, he had a visit from 
Southey, whom he had hitherto only known as a 
correspondent. Soon after, at Edinburgh, his atten- 
tion was engaged by the publication of his Dryden, 
to which he was urged by almost every one, including 
Wordsworth and Southey, whom he consulted. There 
was another subject too, — his appointment to a clerk- 
ship of the Court of Session, negotiations for which 
had been commenced immediately after William Pitt 
had desired his friend Dundas to look after Scott's 
interests. 

There then were seven principal Clerks of Session 
in Edinburgh, each of whom received eight hundred 
pounds, afterwards increased to thirteen hundred 
pounds, per annum. Each clerk was liable to attend 
in court from four to six hours daily during rather less 
than six months out of the twelve. His principal 
duty was to sign his name to legal documents. Mr. 
George Home, a friend of Scott's, who had been a 
clerk for upwards of thirty years, was willing to 



^T. 34.] CLERK OF SESSION. 137 

resign in Scott's favor, provided, there being no re- 
tiring pension, he was to receive the salary, Scott 
doing the duty, with a right of succession to the 
office on a vacancy by death or resignation. This 
arrangement was approved of, and a patent under 
the sign-manual duly executed, which, on examina- 
tion, was found to make the appointment solely in 
favor of Scott, without any mention of Mr. Home, 
who would have been unprovided for had Scott died 
before him. Just then, William Pitt died ; and a new 
government, of which Fox was really the head, was 
installed. Fearing, as he was known to be a strong 
Tory, that the incoming officials would refuse to 
rectify the mistake, Scott went to London early in 
1806 ; saw Lord Spencer, to whose department the 
affair belonged; and was kindly received, with the 
assurance, that, as it evidently was a mistake, what he 
solicited should be done, rather as an act of justice 
than of favor. Accordingly, Scott was made Clerk 
of Session, immediately entering upon the perform- 
ance of his duties ; his predecessor receiving all the 
salary for the next six years, — after which he ob- 
tained a pension, — and remaining twenty-five years 
in office ; almost until his death, in fact. 

During his short visit on this official matter, Scott 
first realized what it was to be a London lion in 
fashionable circles. He was too true and honest to 
pursue the course of others, who, indebted for sub- 
stantial favors to Lord Melville, virtual governor of 
Scotland under Pitt, neglected him, and worse, under 
the rule of Mr. Fox. 

Among the notable persons whom he met in Lon- 
don at this time were Canning, Sotheby, and Frere. 
He made the acquaintance of Joanna Baillie the 
dramatist, and her eminent brother. Dr. Matthew 
Baillie ; and dined with the Princess of Wales, after- 
wards the unfortunate Queen Caroline. 



138 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l8o6 

One of the first acts of the new Whig government 
was to try Lord Melville, by impeachment, for gross 
malversation as treasurer of the navy. Carelessness 
alone was proven, and he was acquitted. His friends 
in Edinburgh celebrated what they called his triumph 
by a public dinner, which Scott attended, and for 
which he wrote a song, entitled " Health to Lord 
Melville." The closing refrain is, — 

" In Grenville and Spencer, 

And some few good men, sir, 
High talents we honor, slight difference forgive ; 

But the Brewer we'll hoax, 

Tallyho to the Fox, 
And drink Melville forever, as long as we live ! " 

Mr. Whitbread, a leading liberal M. P., was " the 
Brewer." The words, " Tallyho to the Fox," since 
understood to allude to the illness of Charles James 
Fox, which soon terminated fatally, gave great 
offence to many of Scott's personal friends among 
the upper ranks of the Whigs, and, it must be con- 
fessed, were in very bad taste. An opportunity 
soon came to make the amende; and he availed him- 
self of it. 

In November, 1806, having written three articles 
for " The Edinburgh Review," and edited a volume 
containing Sir Henry Slingsby's and Capt. Hodg- 
son's Memoirs (in the civil war), Scott began a 
new poem, entitled " Marmion." Not succeeding 
in obtaining his own terms from Messrs. Longman, he 
accepted the offer of a thousand guineas, made by 
Constable of Edinburgh before he had seen a line 
of it, — before, in fact, much of it was written. 
Constable gave a share in it to two London pub- 
lishers, — Mr. Miller of Fleet Street, and Mr. John 
Murray, afterwards so well known by his dealings 
with and friendship for Lord Byron. The imme- 



^T. 35.] " MARMION." 139 

diate pressure upon Scott to write this poem was to 
help his brother Thomas Scott, who, having suc- 
ceeded to his father's business and connection as 
writer to the signet, was compelled to relinquish it. 
Much of this new poem was composed in solitary 
rambles through Ettrick, and musings by the Tweed. 
He told Lockhart that he had "many a grand 
gallop " among the braes between Ashestiel and 
Newark when he was thinking of " Marmion." 
His friend Mr. Skene said that many of the more 
energetic descriptions, and particularly that of the 
battle of Flodden, were struck out while he was in 
quarters again with his cavalry, in the autumn of 
1807. " In the intervals of drilling," he said, " Scott 
used to delight in walking his powerful black steed 
up and down by himself upon the Portobello sands, 
within the beating of the surge ; and now and then 
you would see him plunge in his spurs and go off as 
if at the charge, with the spray dashing about him. 
As we rode back to Musselburgh, he often came and 
placed himself beside me to repeat the verses that he 
had been composing during these pauses of our 
exercise." 

Very freely, as with " The Lay," he showed por- 
tions of the poem as it was in progress. In March, 
1807, when he was again in London, making re- 
searches in the British Museum for his Dryden, he 
was much lionized, but worked on steadily at " Mar- 
mion," — alternately at Lord Abercorn's villa at 
Stanraore, and Mr Ellis's at Sunninghall. At last, 
" Marmion," on which he had bestowed unusual 
care, was published in February, 1808, in a quarto 
volume. The printing was begun before the work 
was finished, — before the author had determined on 
the actual finale. He liked, as he said, to have the 
press at his heels, and calculated largely on the 
plasticity of every fictitious story. 



140 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l8o8 

The effect of " Marmion " on the public mind was 
striking. It was said that the plot was better, the 
finish more polished, the interest more unflagging. 
It related the adventures of a fictitious person ; was 
called ''A Tale of Flodden Field," because the 
hero's fate is connected with that defeat and the 
causes which led to it ; and the poem, opening about 
the commencement of August, concluded with the 
defeat of Flodden, Sept. 9, 1513. To each canto 
was prefixed a poetical introduction. Early in 1807, 
there had been announced " Six Epistles from Et- 
trick Forest," to be published separately. These, 
inserted in " Marmion," were addressed to William 
Stuart Rose, Rev. John Marriott, William Erskine, 
James Skene, George Ellis, and Richard Heber. The 
opinion of Mr. Ellis, which has been generally adopt- 
ed, is, that these epistles, " though excellent in them- 
selves, are, in fact, only interruptions of the fable; 
and, accordingly, nine readers out of ten have perused 
them separately, either before or after the poem." 
They are personal and characteristic, and, for the most 
part, in Scott's happiest manner. In the first of these, 
which has a strong poetical bearing, is a tribute to 
Pitt and Fox, the rival chiefs of party, who had both 
died in 1806. It concludes thus : — 

" Theirs was no common party race, 
Jostling by dark intrigue for place : 
Like fabled gods, their mighty war 
Shook realms and nations in its jar: 
Beneath its banner proud to stand, 
Looked up the noblest of the land, 
Till through the British world were known 
The names of Pitt and Fox alone. 
Spells of such force no wizard grave 
E'er framed in dark Thessalian cave, 
Though his could drain the ocean dry, 
And force the planets from the sky. ^ 
These spells are spent; and, spent with these, 
The wine of life is on the lees. 



^T. 37.] THE DEATH OF MARMION. 141 

Genius and taste and talent gone, 

Forever tombed beneath the stone, 

Where — taming thought to human pride I — 

The mighty chiefs sleep side by side. 

Drop upon Fox's grave the tear, 

'Twill trickle to his rival's bier; 

O'er Pitt's the mournful requiem sound, 

And Fox's shall the notes rebound. 

The solemn echo seems to cry, — 

* Here let their discord with them die : 

Speak not for those a separate doom 

Whom Fate made brothers in the tomb; 

But, search the land of living men. 

Where wilt thou find their like again ? ' " 

The great blot of the poem, which Scott attributed 
to haste, but could not rectify without making or- 
ganic changes in the plot, was hit by Byron when he 
spoke in "English Bards " of 

" The golden-crested, haughty Marmion, — 
Now forging scrolls ; now foremost in the fight ; 
Not quite a felon, yet but half a knight." 

There are many noble passages : such, for example, 
are the descriptions of local scenery; the trial and 
doom of Constance ; the impressive story told by 
the Lord Lyon, King of Arms ; the glance at 
Edinburgh, — " mine own romantic town ; " the 
court-scene in which Lady Heron sings the ballad of 
" Lochinvar ; " the defiance of Marmion to Douglas 
at Tantallon ; the beautiful apostrophe, — 

" O woman I in our hours of ease. 
Fantastic, coy, and hard to please," 

which every one has by heart ; and the death of 
Marmion, of which Southey wrote, " There is noth- 
ing finer in its conception anywhere." Well do I 
remember, years ago, hearing Braham, the great Eng- 
lish tenor, who preserved his voice, at once strong 



142 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l8o8 

and sweet, up to his eightieth year, sing with thrill- 
ing effect the grand finale : — 

" The war, that for a space did fail, 
Now, trebly thundering, swelled the gale ; 

And, ' Stanley ! ' was the cry. 
A light on Marmion's visage spread, 

And fired his glazing eye : 
With dying hand, above his head 
He shook the fragment of his blade, 

And shouted, ' Victory ! ' 
* Charge, Chester, charge ! on, Stanley, on!' 
Were the last words of Marmion." 

The able and amusing parody on Scott's manner 
and mannerisms, entitled " A Tale of Drury Lane," 
in " Rejected Addresses," by Horace and James 
Smith, which Scott greatly admired for its vraisem- 
blance^ seized upon the above lines, and dealt with 
them thus : — 

" Still o'er his head, while Fate he braved, 
His whirling water-pipe he waved: 
' VVhitford and Mitford, ply your pumps ! 
You, Clutterbuck, come, stir your stumps ! 
Why are you in such doleful dumps ? 
A fireman, and afraid of bumps ! 
What are they feared on ? Fools ! 'od rot 'em ! ' 
Were the last words of Higginbottom." 

A very striking scene in the second canto is the 
trial of Constance de Beverley, " sister professed of 
Fontevraud," — Marmion's light o' love for three 
years, — and the monk who had some complicity in 
her guilt: she calm and fearless when the death- 
doom, — 

*' Sister, let thy sorrows cease ; 
Sinful brother, part in peace ; " 

and he utterly craven. The contrast is most effec- 



^T. 37.] Jeffrey's criticism. 143 

tive. Scott mentioned, in the presence of Sir Thomas 
Laurence, that this contrast was suggested by the 
behavior of two criminals whom he had himself 
seen, — one a woman who had poisoned her husband ; 
the other a body-snatcher, who had brought a subject 
(a young child) to a surgeon in a bag, and, when sur- 
prise was expressed at hearing it cry, said, " Oh ! you 
wanted it dead, did you ? " and, stepping behind a 
tree, killed it. " The woman," Scott said, " who was 
brought up to judgment with a child at her breast, 
stood with the utmost calmness to hear her sentence ; 
while the man, on the contrary, yelled out, and 
showed the most disgusting cowardice." 

The English reviewers expressed themselves well 
satisfied with " Marmion," particularly as the chiv- 
alry of their own country was represented in it ; 
and, ere long, British artists were making pictures 
out of its vivid scenes. It was dramatized too, but 
more as a spectacle than a dialogue-play. " The 
Edinburgh Review " was unfavorable. Jeffrey had 
not been advised with, as on a former occasion, 
while the poem was being composed : at any rate, in 
his critique, praise and censure were curiously bal- 
anced ; but it was evident that some pique underlaid 
the whole. In the passage relating to the rival politi- 
cal chiefs, Scott had said, — 

" And, partial feeling east aside, 
Record, that Fox a Briton died." 

This, Mr. Jeffrey alleged, was equivalent to saying 
that he had not lived one. Pitt and Fox had led 
the parties to which Scott and Jeffrey respectively 
belonged ; and the implied slight, following " Tal- 
ly ho to the Fox," was thus avenged by the angry 
critic. 

Jeffrey sent an advance-copy of the article to 
Scott, with whom he had been under a long-standing 



144 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1808 

engagement to dine on that very day ; and Scott, 
though he was as much amused as annoyed at find- 
ing himself accused of having throughout neglected 
Scottish feelings and Scottish characters, hastened 
to assure him that he. hoped he would keep his en- 
gagement; which he did, and, Mr. Lockhart says, 
" was received by his host with the frankest cor- 
diality, but had the mortification to observe, that the 
mistress of the house, though perfectly polite, was 
not quite so easy with him as usual. She, too, be- 
haved herself with exemplary civility during the din- 
ner, but could not help saying in her broken Eng- 
lish, when her guest was departing, ' Well, good- 
night, Mr. Jeffrey. Dey tell me you have abused 
Scott in de " Review ; " and I hope Mr. Constable has 
paid you very well for writing it.' " The result, 
however, was, that Scott ceased to contribute to " The 
Edinburgh Review ; " and his personal relations with 
Jeffrey became cool and distant. Politics, independ- 
ent of the unfortunate critique, placed a great gulf 
between them for some time, until on the publication 
of '' The Lady of the Lake," which he courteously 
reviewed, Jeffrey wrote to Scott, expressing his re- 
gret for the tone of the " Marmion " article ; and 
peace was restored. 

" Marmion " was dedicated to Lord Montagu, 
Scott's friend and neighbor in the country. The 
sale was very great from the first. Up to 1836, it 
had been fifty thousand copies. 

In Duyckinck's " Cyclopsedia of American Litera- 
ture," it stated that Mr. Brevoort was asked by 
Walter Scott respecting the authorship of certain 
verses on the battle of Eutaw which he had seen 
in a magazine, had by heart, and knew to be Ameri- 
can. He was told they were by Philip Freneau, the 
popular political versifier of the Revolution ; and an- 
swered, " The poem is as fine a thing as there is 



JET. 37.] EDITS DRYDEN's WORKS. 145 



of the kind in the language." It contains this stan- 
za; — 

" They saw their injured country's woe, 
The flaming town, the wasted field ; 
Then rushed to meet the insulting foe : 
Thei/ took the spear, but lejl the shield." 

In the introduction to the third canto of " Mar- 
mion," there is an apostrophe to the Duke of Bruns- 
wick, in which these Hues occur : — 

" Lamented chief ! not thine the power 
To save in that presumptuous hour, 
When Prussia hurried to the field, 
And snatched the spear, but left the shield'* 

The idea and the expression appear identical. Scott 
ma}^ involuntarily have adopted both. I could show 
twenty instances of his having repeated in his novels 
particular expressions which he had used in his poems. 

In April, 1808, Scott's edition of '' The Works of 
John Dryden," in eighteen octavo volumes, then first 
collected, with a Life of the author, was published 
by Mr. Miller of London. Few except editor and 
publisher expected that it would pay expenses 
(Scott was paid seven hundred and fifty-six pounds 
for his work on it). But, though such a long set of 
books is rarely purchased except by those who really 
want it, Dryden had a satisfactory sale. It was re- 
printed in 1821 ; and the Life of Dryden, included, 
since 1830, in the edition of Scott's miscellaneous 
works, had been well received. The collection is 
very complete ; the notes are copious and sufficient ; 
and the memoir gives a full and interesting sketch of 
English literature in the last half of the seventeenth 
century. The biography of Dryden was congenial to 
the mind, and worthy of the genius, of Scott ; and 
justice was done to it, with some critical reservations 

10 



146 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l8o8 

arising mainly out of a difference of temperament, 
in an article by Henry Hallam in " The Edinburgh 
Keview." Being a collection of Dryden's writings, 
Scott did not exclude several of the comedies, and 
some of the translations. Through the kindness of 
friends, he recovered some hymns which Dryden had 
translated from the service of the Catholic Church, 
and, while he did not exclude some obviously-spuri- 
ous pieces published in Derrick's edition of Dryden's 
poetry, put them in a separate compartment, with a 
suitable note of suspicion to each. The Life is a val- 
uable chapter in the history of English literature. 
With the exception of being free from his occasion- 
al coarseness, and of being steady in his political and 
religious faith, Walter Scott had much in common 
with ''glorious John," who, to use the closing words 
of the Life, " educated in a pedantic taste and a fa- 
natical religion, was destined, if not to give laws to 
the stage of England, at least to defend its liberties ; 
to improve burlesque into satire ; to free translation 
from the fetters of verbal metaphrase, and exclude 
from it the license of paraphrase ; to teach posterity 
the powerful and varied poetical harmony of which 
their language was capable ; to give an example of 
the lyric ode of unapproached excellence; and to 
leave to English literature a name second only to 
those of Milton and Shakespeare." 

" Marmion" and Dryden did not comprise the whole 
of Scott's work in 1808. Joseph Strutt, a literary 
antiquarian of some ability and character, had died, 
leaving an unfinished prose romance of the olden 
time, entitled " Queenhoo Hall ; " and, at the request 
of John Murray the publisher, Scott supplied a con- 
clusion in the fashion of the original : it is to be 
found appended to the General Introduction to " The 
Waverley Novels." He also wrote a preface and notes 
to a reprint of Capt. Carleton's '' Memoirs of the 



^T. 37.] EDITS swift's works. 147 

War of the Spanish Succession ; " and did the same 
service for a similar edition of the Memoirs of Rob- 
ert Car}^, Earl of Monmouth, — each being printed 
by Ballantyne, and published by Constable. If the 
press were not " at his heels " at this time, the pub- 
lishers were. He was floating on the full tide of 
popularity ; and project after project was submitted 
to him for his co-operation, with tempting prospects, 
and promises of liberal compensation. Among others, 
Murray suggested a general edition of the British 
novelists, from Daniel Defoe to the close of the 
eighteenth century, with biographical prefaces and 
notes by Scott. In this year, too, he worked on an 
edition of Sir Ralph Sadler's "State Papers," three 
volumes quarto, published in 1809 ; and on Somer's 
" Collection of Tracts," two volumes of which ap- 
peared at the same time, though the whole, extend- 
ing to thirteen quarto volumes, was not completed 
until 1812. These (from the Ballantyne Press, of 
course) were ordered by London publishers ; and 
Mr. Constable, dreading that they might engage the 
whole time of an author in whose ability and indus- 
try he foresaw much future advantage, outbid them 
all by engaging him to edit the Works and write the 
Life of Dean Swift, offering him a thousand five 
hundred pounds, which was double what he had re- 
ceived for the Dryden. This was precisely such an 
undertaking as Scott, had he the power, would have 
carved out for himself ; for it involved, in fact, a con- 
tinuation of the literary history of England, from 
the time of Dryden almost to the middle of the last 
century. It was not published until 1814, — a week 
before the appearance of " Waverley." 

Mr. Morritt, proprietor of the fine estate in the 
north of England which afterwards supphed subject 
and title for the poem called " Rokeby," had visited 
Scott in the summer of 1808. In a memorandum 



148 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i8o8 

relating to this acquaintance, which speedily ripened 
into warm mutual regard, he said, apropos of the 
portrait by Raeburn which had just been executed 
for Constable, and was a most faithful likeness of 
Scott and his dog Camp, that the features of the ori- 
ginal struck him at first " as commonplace and heavy ; 
but they were almost always lighted up by the flashes 
of the mind within." The bust by Chan trey he con- 
sidered as an extremely expressive likeness. Mr. 
Morritt, who was struck with Scott's good fellowship 
and gossip among all his neighbors in the country, 
and rejoiced to see how his wife and happy 3^oung 
family clustered around him, declared '' At this period, 
his conversation was more equal and animated than 
any man's that I ever knew." He bore testimony 
to the affluence and abundance of Scott's stories, — 
" always apposite, and often interesting the mind by 
strong pathos, or eminently ludicrous; " adding, " But 
equally impressive and powerful was the language of 
his warm heart, and equally wonderful were the con- 
clusions of his vigorous understanding, to those who 
could retain or appreciate either." This is at vari- 
ance with the opinion of Alison the historian, that, 
though Scott had a prodigious fund of stories and an- 
ecdotes at command, " he had not the real conversa- 
tional talent : there was little interchange of ideas 
when he talked ; he took it nearly all to himself, and 
talked of persons or old anecdotes or characters, not 
things." In my own brief intercourse with Sir Walter 
Scott, he rather put questions than related anecdotes 
or made observations, because he understood that I 
happened to be familiar with a local subject on which 
he desired to be informed. But the experience of 
Scott's friends, as far as I have been able to ascertain, 
was, that, though fond of illustrating a topic by appo- 
site anecdotes, he was in the habit of pausing every 
now and then to give others a fair chance of striking 



^T. 37.] AMONG HIS CHILDREN. 149 

into the conversation. On one occasion, I remember, 
that, when the subject of art came up, he spoke upon 
it for ten minutes in a grave and earnest manner, not 
didactic, but ahnost eloquent. 

Mr. Morritt spoke truly of the " happy young fami- 
ly " clustered around Scott at Ashestiel in the sum- 
mer of 1808. Sophia, the eldest, was in her ninth, and 
Charles, the youngest child, was in his third year. 
Scott was familiar with his children from the time 
they could understand his talk. Children and dogs 
had free access to his study at all times ; and, even 
at the busiest, he would lay aside his pen to join in a 
rough-and-tumble play, to mend a kite or a little 
wagon, to act as umpire in petty disj)utes over their 
games. He Avould gather the little ones around him, 
tell them a story, or repeat a ballad or a song. On 
Sunday, which is usually so heavy a day in Scotland, 
that to whistle a bar or two of a tune is set down as 
rank desecration, he would dine, or rather lunch, with 
his family in the open air, and lying on the sward, 
perhaps at the base of some ruined tower, tell them 
stories out of the Bible, which he seemed to have b}^ 
heart, and, answering their many questions, teach, 
while he seemed to be merely amusing them. This 
was one of the many points of resemblance between 
Walter Scott and Charles- Dickens. Not without 
cause did Scott afterwards say, as some one w^as ad- 
miring the manliness of his eldest son, then a fine 
youth, " Like the Persians," '' I have taught him 
three things, — to tell the truth, to shoot, and to 
ride." Nor was it his boys alone who possessed the 
latter accomplishment. All of his children were fond 
of horses, and could keep their seats on any road, 
however rough, or in any ford, however deep. If 
they required sympathy or aid or counsel, they has- 
tened to their father, and received it. He never was 
so much occupied that he could not make time to 



150 



SIR WALTER SCOTT. 



[1808. 



attend to them : consequently, few fathers were more 
beloved and confided in. And, as the years rolled on, 
this love and confidence certainly did not diminish. 
He never made them weep, excejjt at the last : — 

" Deep for the dead that grief must be 
Which ne'er gave cause for grief before." 




CHAPTER X. 

"Quarterly Review" established. — Scott a Publisher. — William Gifford. — 
John Baliantyne. — Scott lionized in London. — Visit to Loch Katrine. — 
Byron's Satire. — Writing for Money. — The Theatre.— John Kemble, Mrs. 
Siddons, Terry, C. M. Young. — Joanna Baillie's Play. — Scott's Social 
Habits.— High Jinks. — Bibacity on the Bench. — Miss Seward's Bequests. 
— " Lady of the Lake " published. 

1809 — 1810. 

THE opening of 1809 found Walter Scott busy, 
as usual then, upon various works. He was now 
in his thirty-eighth year, and, the perils which threat- 
ened his early life having been weathered, enjoyed 
rude health. His principal work was on the new 
edition of Swift. He had not read Jeffrey's insidi- 
ous article upon " Marmion " with all the equanimity 
he affected : it had deeply wounded him, particularly 
because much of it was true. " The Edinburgh Re- 
view," in which it had appeared, had literally built 
up the business and the reputation of Archibald Con- 
stable, and at a great political crisis, when Napoleon 
Bonaparte threatened to extend his sway over Europe, 
and might have done so if England had not opposed 
him in the Peninsula, repeatedly declared that re- 
sistance to the conqueror's sway would be worse than 
useless, — a doctrine of submission to which Scott, 
with his predominant high Torjdsm, refused to sub- 
cribe. In the twenty-sixth number of the '' Review," 
an article on Spanish affairs expressed this " manifest- 
destiny " doctrine so strongly, that Scott gave orders 
to have his name removed from the list of subscribers. 

151 



152 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1809 

About the same time, Mr. Hunter, Constable's partner, 
who had an idea that Scott shoukl not work for any 
other house until he had completed the edition of Swift 
which he was engaged upon for them, said as much in 
his hearing; which much aroused the poet's ire. The 
result was, that he offered to cancel the contract for 
Swift, if Constable & Co. desired it. They declined 
to do this ; but the breach was not soon built up. 

Out of this difference arose the establishment of 
" The Quarterly Review " and the formation of a 
new publishing-house in Edinburgh. Mr. John Mur- 
ray, then young, and little known among the London 
publishers, had a meeting with James Ballantyne, in 
a quiet, out-of-the-way town in Yorkshire, at which 
he was told that the mighty Minstrel had another 
Scotch poem and a Scotch novel on the stocks, and 
desired to see an Edinburgh Annual Register, to be 
conducted in opposition to the politics and criticism 
of " The Edinburgh Review ; " lastly, that the estab- 
lishment of a new publishing-house in Edinburgh 
was certain. On this, Murray went to Ashestiel, where 
he laid before Scott the plan of a quarterly re- 
view, to be published in London under the editor- 
ship of Mr. William Gifford, translator of Juvenal, and 
author of'' The Baviad " and " The Mseviad," satirical 
poems, which had been very popular in their day. 
]-. The result was, that Scott, George Ellis, William 
Stuart Rose, George Canning, Croker, Southey, and 
other literary and political Tories, agreed to write for 
the new periodical. Scott contributed three articles 
to the first number, published in March, 1809 ; and his 
connection with it was never suspended. 

Simultaneous with this action in London was the 
setting-up, in Edinburgh, of John Ballantyne & Co., 
publishers. The nominal head of this firm was John, 
a younger brother of James Ballantyne. He had 
been a clerk in a London bank, where he was pre- 



^T. 38.] THE BALLANTYNES. 153 

sumecl to have learned business. He was volatile, 
careless, addicted to pleasure, but amusing, fond 
of field-sports, a capital mimic, and, in mind, manner, 
and person, the very opposite of his brother James, 
who was burly and brawny, with a great deal of mock 
dignity, and very superciHous manners. Mr. Lockhart 
sketched both brothers in caricatura, and laid the 
misfortunes of Scott mainly at their door : but they 
were most devoted to him ; and he knew and valued 
the depth of their affection. John died in June, 
1821, years before the failure of Constable ; and on 
the day of his funeral, when, as they were smoothing 
the turf over his grave, the midsummer sun shone 
forth in his strength through a panoply of dense 
clouds, Scott turned to Lockhart, and sadly whis- 
pered, '' I feel as if there would be less sunshine for 
me from this day forth." Both brothers had decided 
literary taste and ability. Independent of the manner 
in which, for nearly thirty years, James Ballantyne 
revised and corrected Scott's writings, he was a very 
competent newspaper editor ; and his dramatic criti- 
cisms were long admired and relied on in '' The 
Edinburgh Weekly Journal." At the same time, the 
musical articles were written by Mr. George Hogarth, 
long afterwards father-in-law of Charles Dickens. 
Of John Ballantj^ne it should be added, that in his 
later years he showed great talent, readiness, and 
wit as a literary auctioneer in Edinburgh ; and the 
Life of Daniel Defoe, for the Novelists' Library, now 
included in Scott's Miscellaneous Works, was written 
by John Ballantyne, and indeed is credited to him 
there, with a brief tribute from Scott to his " wit, 
lively talents, and kindness of disposition." 

In the spring of 1809, Scott was in London on 
public business, — his first visit since the success of 
" Marmion ; " and his friend jNIorritt could scarcely 
have exaggerated when he said, " The homage paid 



154 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1809 

him would have turned the head of any less gifted man 
of eminence. It neither altered his opinions, nor pro- 
duced the aflPectation of despising it : on the contrary, 
he received it, cultivated it, and repaid it in its own 
coin. ' All this is very flattering,' he would say, 
' and very civil : and if people are amused with hear- 
ing me tell a parcel of old stories, or recite a pack of 
ballads, to lovely young girls and gaping matrons, 
they are easily pleased ; and a man would be very ill- 
natured who would not give pleasure so cheaply 
conferred.' If he dined with us, and found any new 
faces, ' Well, do you want me to play lion to-day ? ' 
was his usual question. ' I will roar, if you like it, to 
your heart's content.' He would indeed, in such 
cases, put forth all his inimitable powers of entertain- 
ment, and, day after day, sur^orised me by their unex- 
pected extent and variety. Then, as the party 
dwindled, and we were left alone, he laughed at 
himself; quoted, 'Yet know that I, one Snug the 

joiner, am — no lion fierce,' &c. ; and was at once 
himself again." 

Before he retired to the country for the summer, 
Scott undertook to have a third poem readv for pub- 
lication by the end of the year, and soon"^ began to 
write '' The Lady of the Lake." In company with 
his wife, he revisited the localities first beheld in 
youth which he had chosen for the scene of his 
romance. He took considerable pains to verify the 
local circumstances of the story, and personally ascer- 
tained that King James could have ridden from the 
banks of Loch Vennachar to Stirling Castle within 
the space allotted for that purpose to '' the Knight of 
Snowdoun, James Fitz-James." Literally on the spot 
where it is to be supposed to have taken place, he 
composed " The Stag-Chase." 

^ During this tour, he first read " English Bards and 
Scotch Reviewers," in which the noble and youthful 



^1- 3S] ACTORS AND ACTRESSES. 155 

author, who had "run a muck" at the principal 
writers of the day, did not spare Scott. Little did 
he think, when saying that Scott was " Apollo's venal 
son " because he accepted " just half a crown per 
line " for his popular poetry, that the time was at 
hand when he^ too, would accept payment for his 
lines, chaffer with the publisher to obtain a good 
price, and receive fifteen thousand pounds in all. 
Scott wrote, that ''this whelp of a young Lord 
Byron," when he attacked him for accepting a thou- 
sand pounds for a poem, was interfering with his 
private affairs. But, in the same satire, the balm of 
Gilead (to speak familiarly) was that Jeffrey caught 
it far more severely, and that, after bitterly sneering 
at Wordsworth, Southey, Coleridge, Montgomery, 
and many others, Byron complimented Scott on pos- 
sessing " powers that mock the aid of praise," and 
would be known, perhaps, when Albion is no more. 
To quote a phrase from a well-known Message, the 
Newstead pill was "sugar-coated." No unfriendly 
emotion could have been raised in Scott's mind by 
satire which was flippant, accompanied by admiration 
which appeared genuine. 

Always fond of theatricals, a fancy in which his 
wife fully participated, it almost followed that Scott 
should be friendly with the leading performers, some 
of whom — such as Mrs. Siddons and John Kemble — 
he had met as guests of the Marquis of Abercorn 
during his visits to London. Of her^ the veritable 
queen of tragedy, even then majestic, his admiration 
was very great : for him^ a scholar as well as a player, 
he formed a deep attachment. Both were his fre- 
quent guests in town and country. In 1809, the 
lease and management of Edinburgh Theatre were 
transferred to Mr. Henry Siddons, Kemble's nephew ; 
and Scott, having a proprietor's share, became one of 
the acting trustees, which connected him with the 



156 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1809 

establishment for man}^ years. It was his great fault 
— the generous error of a kind heart — to think, 
through life, that "all his neighbors' geese were 
swans;" and therefore, under his influence, the first 
play produced by young Siddons was the '' Family 
Legend," by Joanna Baillie, — a fine dramatic poem, 
but not a good acting play. With aid from Ballan- 
tyne and other newspaper critics, so warm and 
friendly a feeling was created in favor of the produc- 
tion of a Scottish poetess, that it was well received, 
and ran for fourteen nights, — a greater success 
than any other play from the same pen ever again 
received. Henry Mackenzie wrote the epilogue, 
which Mrs. Siddons, who played in the piece, spoke 
extremely well ; one of Scott's brothers, then com- 
manding a Highland recruiting-party, lent real sol- 
diers to garrison the (theatrical) Castle of Inverary ; 
and James Ballantyne kindly dipped his pen in rose- 
tinted ink when he Avrote a critique upon the per- 
formance. An inferior character, well represented 
by Mr. Terry, who had abandoned the profession of 
an arcliitect for the stage, and who was intimate with 
the Ballantynes, made him known to Scott, whose 
taste for old books, poetry, and articles of vertu^ he 
fully shared, and to whom, in various ways in after- 
days, in the planning and building of Abbotsford, 
and the dramatic adaptation of the Waverley novels, 
he was able to give efficient aid. Charles Matthews 
(the elder), who, like Young, Kemble, Henry Sid- 
dons, and Terry, was well informed and literary, was 
another of Scott's intimate dramatic friends and most 
welcomed guests. 

Scott told Lockhart that " the only man who ever 
seduced him into very deep potations in his middle 
life was Kemble." Perhaps, in connection with this 
confession, a few words of comment may be in place. 
In Scott's youth, carousing was the fashion and prac- 



^T. 38.] JUDICIAL BIBACITY. 157 

tice of the day. The customs duty on wine was low, 
which made chiret cheap. A good deal of this wine 
was consumed when gentlemen met on social occa- 
sions ; and before his marriage, no doubt, Scott had 
often joined in these revelries, — not heavily ; as the 
only record against him is the charge already men- 
tioned, that on one occasion, he, who had never before 
been known even to hum a tune, had been tempted, 
under excitement, to sing a song. This was in 
youth : in manhood, he rarely passed the Rubicon of 
the cup. Moreover, he had '' a strong head," and 
could not easily be overcome. Through life, from 
the time he was his own master, he eschewed such 
indulgences, and, even when playing the host, would 
adroitly substitute the appearance for the reality of 
drinking. The decanter before him might appear to 
contain sherry ; but Macbeth, his ponderous butler, 
had tilled it with toast-water. It seemed as if, for 
the most, he thought, with his own Hayraddin the 
Zingaro, that " he must drink no wine who would 
know the thoughts of others, or hide his own." The 
sketch in " Guy Mannering," of Lawyer Pleydel and 
his brethren of the long robe enjoying themselves at 
High Jinks in an obscure tavern in Edinburgh, is 
scarcely a caricature, and might have been a reality 
when Scott was a law-student. Henry Cockburn, 
writing when he himself was a lord of session, saj's, 
that, at Edinburgh, the old judges " had always wine 
and biscuits on the bench. The modern judges — 
those, 1 mean, who were made after 1800 — never gave 
in to this ; but with those of the preceding genera- 
tion, several of whom lasted several years after 1800, 
it was quite common. Black bottles of strong port 
were set down beside them on the bench, with 
glasses, caraffes of water, tumblers, and biscuits ; and 
this witliout the slightest attempt at concealment. 
The refreshment was generally allowed to stand un- 



158 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1809 

touched, and as if despised, for a short time, during 
which their lordships seemed to be intent only on 
their notes. Bat in a little time some Avater Avas 
poured into the tumbler, and sipped quietly, as if 
merely to sustain nature. Then a few drops of wine 
were ventured upon, but only with the water ; till at 
last patience could endure no longer, and a full 
bumper of the pure black element was tossed over ; 
after which they went on regularly, and there was 
comfortable munching and quaffing, to the great envy 
of the parched throats in the gallery. The strong- 
headed stood it tolerably well ; but it told plainly 
enough upon the feeble. Not that the ermine was 
absolutely intoxicated ; but it was certainly sometimes 
affected." If thus with the judges on the bench, 
how must it have been with advocates, writers, soli- 
citors, scriveners, and clerks ? 

That Miss Seward died in March, 1809, is men- 
tioned here merely because she bequeathed to Scott 
(with directions to publish speedily, with a sketch 
of her life prefixed) all of her compositions in verse 
and prose (the former unpublished, extending to six 
volumes quarto), besides what had been printed in her 
lifetime. There also was part of an epic poem on 
the basis of Fenelon's " Telemachus," a collection of 
her father's poetry, an essay on Pope's Homer, four 
sermons, and her own juvenile letters from the year 
1762 to June, 1768. To Mr. Constable, the pub- 
lisher, this liberal authoress left twelve quarto and 
manuscript volumes of her own letters from 1784 to 
1809 ; they were copies of such letters, or parts of let- 
ters, as, after they were written, appeared to her wor- 
thy of the attention of the public. She wrote to Scott, 
" Large as the collection is, it does not contain a 
twelfth of the letters I have written from the said 
period." 

The fair testator, whose father was a well-salaried 



^T. 38.] MISS Seward's legacy. 159 

dignitary of Lichfield Cathedral, was perpetually 
pouring out prose and verse, printed and manu- 
script, 

" In one weak, wasliy, everlasting flood," 

for thirty years ; and it may be doubted whether, at the 
present time, a dozen persons can quote ten lines 
out of all her writingjs. Yet she thoug^ht herself a 
Corinna, and had condescended, when Scott Avas 
making himself known and liked, to commend some 
of his poetry. Her organ of self-esteem must have 
been enormous. The strange part of this incident 
is, that Scott, though he privately declared that 
they were '' execrable," edited three post-octavo vol- 
umes of her poems, with a Memoir of the lady, 
which John Ballantyne & Co. published in 1810 ; 
and that Mr. Constable, who had never seen her, 
published six volumes of her correspondence, a year 
later. The mere putting all this writing into type 
must have been costly, and undertaken with a con- 
viction on the part of Scott and Constable that a 
sale of fifty sets of each work would probably be the 
highest result. The difficulty of saying " No " to a 
lady, even at the ripe age of sixty-two, is proverbial ; 
but here the request came from a defunct paper- 
stainer, whom one of the party had only seen once, 
and whom the other had scarcely heard of. With all 
respect for Prof. Lowell and Mr. J. R. Osgood, I doubt 
whether they, in such a case, would have wasted 
time, labor, and capital in such a manner, even to 
oblige the posthumous request of an ancient spinster ; 
but, as Burke said, the age of chivalry is gone. 

In the spring of 1810, while Scott was at work on 
Somers and Swift, and was taking care of two vol- 
umes of " English Minstrelsy " and a new edition 
of " The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border," his 
third great poem, '^ The Lady of the Lake," was 



160 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i8io 

finished. His angry feelings towards Constable had 
so far subsided, that he allowed him to be consulted 
as to the number of the first impression, size, mode 
of advertising, and other practical details, but did 
not permit him to take any share in the adventure, 
which really was the coup d'essai of his own new 
publishing-firm. James Ballantyne, as is reported by 
Mr. Robert Cadell, then a young man in training at 
Constable's, used to read the cantos, from time to 
time, to select coteries as they advanced at press. 
Common fame was in their favor : a great poem was, on 
all hands, anticipated. " I do not recollect," Mr. Ca- 
dell added, " that any of all the author's works was 
ever looked for with more anxiety, or that one of 
them excited a more extraordinary sensation when it 
did appear." 

Many anxious friends, however, were afraid, that, 
by this third venture, he might peril the reputation 
he had already gained. In his final introduction, he 
says " A lady " (Miss Christian Rutherford, his 
mother's youngest sister) "to whom I was nearly re- 
lated, and with whom I lived during her whole life 
on the most brotherly terms of affection, was resid- 
ing with me (at Ashestiel) when the work was in 
progress, and used to ask me what I could possibly 
do to rise so early in the morning. At last, I told her 
the subject of my meditation ; and I can never for- 
get the anxiety and affection expressed in her reply. 
'- Do not be so rash,' she said, ' my dearest cousin. 
You are already popular, — more so, perhaps, than you 
yourself will believe, or than even I or other partial 
friends can fairly allow to your merit. You stand 
high : do not rashly attempt to climb higher, and in- 
cur the risk of a fall ; for, depend upon it, a favorite 
will not be permitted even to stumble with impunity.' 
I replied to this affectionate expostulation in the 
words of Montrose : — 



^T. 39-] "LADY OF THE LAKE." 161 

' He either fears his fate too much, 

Or his deserts are small, 
Who dares not put it to the touch, 
To win, or lose it all.* 

' If I fail,' I said (for the dialogue is strong in my rec- 
ollection), ' it is a sign that I ought never to have 
succeeded ; and I will write prose for life : you shall 
see no change in my temper, nor will I eat a single 
meal the worse. But, if I succeed, — 

' Up wi' the bonnie blue bonnet, 
The dirk and the feather, an' a' ! ' 

" Afterwards I showed my critic the first canto, 
which reconciled her to my imprudence." An in- 
telligent farmer and keen sportsman (one of his 
many cousins), to whom he read the first canto, 
placed his hand across his brow, and listened with 
great attention through the whole account of the 
stag-hunt, till the dogs throw themselves into the 
lake to follow their master, who embarks with Ellen 
Douglas. He then started up with a sudden excla- 
mation, struck his hand on the table, and declared, in 
a voice of censure calculated for the occasion, that 
the dogs must have been totally ruined by being per- 
mitted to take the water after such a severe chase. 
This was satisfactory : he had been completely sur- 
prised out of all doubts of the reality of the tale. 
But having the words of an old ballad in his mind, 
in which King James V. figured with a fair " light o' 
love," this sportsman detected the identity of that 
king with the Knight of Snowdoun ; and Scott had to 
take great pains with that part of the story to pre- 
vent the denoument being anticipated by others. 

The poem, dedicated to the Marquis of Abercorn, — 

his father's and his own good friend, — was published 

in June, 1810, with an engraved portrait of Scott, 

from a painting by Saxon, in 1805, with the favorite 

11 



162 



SIR WALTER SCOTT. 



[l8lO. 



bull-terrier Camp leaning his head on the knee of his 
master. Of the first edition, in quarto, two thousand 
and fifty copies were instantly sold ; and within the 
year four octavo editions were disposed of, making 
a sale of twenty thousand copies in seven months. 
None of Scott's poems had such a large and steady 
sale as this. Two thousand pounds was the purchase- 
money ; but his share of the profits as partner in the 
printing and publishing ought to have more than 
doubled this. 




CHAPTER XI. 



Loch Katrine and the Trosachs. — The Knight of Snowdoun. — Haroon Alras- 
chid. — Burns and Joanna Baillie. — " The Lady of the Lake " in Lisbon. — 
Tour to the Hebrides. — '• Waverley " again condemned. — Scott'e Ain Bairna. 
" Vision of Don Roderick." — Lady Wellington. —Imitation of Crabbe. — In- 
crease of Income. — Purchase of Abbotsford. — Cottage and Castle. — Social 
Position. — The Actors and the Poet. 



Ibll— I8l2. 

THE success of " The Lady of the Lake " surpassed 
any that even Scott had yet obtained. Like '^ The 
Lay " and " Marmion," this poem was in six cantos ; 
but these were not ushered in with any introductions. 
A stanza or two, in the Spenserian measure, gravely 
began each canto ; and three such stanzas, breathing 
a farewell to the Harp of the North, followed the 
close of the poem. Scott had visited the Western 
Highlands of Perthshire twenty years before, when 
he was an " apprentice of the law ; " and their roman- 
tic scenery had literally charmed him. That scenery 
is familiar to all tourists now ; but, when he first saw 
it, few strangers had visited it, and, from the bad- 
ness and want of roads, it was difficult of access. 
The poet may be said to have almost discovered 
Loch Katrine and the Trosachs. That part of the 
country is the locality, also, not only of his most 
popular and most highly-finished poem, but of his 
early ballad of " Glenfinlas," and, long after, of 
many of the incidents of the legends of " Mon- 
trose " and " Rob Roy." He was led into the com- 
position of this poem by the deep impression which 

163 



164 - SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l8lO 

the Perthshire scenery, in its grandeur and softness, 
had made in his mind. In the summer of 1809, anx- 
ious to renew his recollection, and obtain accuracy in 
his descriptions, he had revisited that district ; the 
poem having been begun a short time before. The 
time of action occupied six days, the transactions 
of each day being related in a canto. These were 
severally designated "The Chase," "The Island," 
" The Gathering," "The Prophecy," " The Combat," 
and " The Guard-Room." 

" The Lady of the Lake " opens with the conclu- 
sion of a hunt, in which a single horseman, with 

" Two dogs of black St. Hubert's breed, 
Unraatched for courage, breath, and speed," 

pursues the stag, which eludes him at the moment 
when his capture and death seemed certain. His 
" gallant gray " falls exhausted, and dies. The 
hunter wanders through a strange country, wild and 
rugged, but picturesque and beautiful, until he reaches 
Loch Katrine, where, in answer to his bugle-note, 
sounded in a half hope of its being heard by one of 
his late companions, a damsel, apparently a chieftain's 
daughter, appears in a skiff, having imagined that 
her father was at hand. This is Ellen, the Lady of 
the Lake ; and her description is most delicately 
executed : — 

" The maiden paused, as if again 
She thought to catch the distant strain. 
With head upraised, and look intent, 
And eye and ear attentive bent, 
And locks flung back, and lips apart, 
Like monument of Grecian art. 
In listening mood she seemed to stand 
The guardian Naiad of the strand. 

And ne'er did Grecian chisel trace 
A Nymph, a Naiad, or a Grace, 
Of finer form or lovelier face ! 



^T. 39.] THE STORY. 165 

Wliat thouc^h the sun, with ardent frown, 
Had slightly tinged her cheek with brown : 
The sportive toil, which, short and light, 
Had dyed her glowing hue so bright, 
Served too, in hastier swell, to show 
Short glimpses of a breast of snow. 
What though no rule of courtly grace 
To measured mood had trained her pace : 
A foot more light, a step more true, 
Ne'er from the heath-flower dashed the dew ; 
E'en the slight harebell raised its head, 
Elastic from her airy tread. 
What though upon her speech there hung 
The accents of the mountain-tongue: 
Those silver sounds, so soft, so dear. 
The listener held his breath to hear ! " 

After a little conversation, — simple courtesy on 
her part, and graceful badinage on his, — the lady 
extends hospitality to the hunter, informing him, 
that, by exercise of the second-sight, old Allan 
Bane, 

" A gray-haired su-e, whose eye intent 
Was on the visioned future bent," 

had foretold his coming. Received into the island- 
retreat, the hunter gives his name as " the Knight 
of Snowdoun, James Fitz-James," but fails in his 
attempt to discover the identity of the fair hostess 
and her companion, — a lady in maturer years. He 
leaves the island next morning, enamoured of Ellen ; 
and new characters appear, — Sir Roderick Vich Al- 
pine (surnamed Dhu, from his swarthy complexion 
and dark hair) ; Lord James of Douglas, a banished 
man ; and Malcolm Grseme. There is a game of 
cross-purposes. Roderick Dhu, who has given a safe 
asylum to Douglas, earnestly solicits the hand of 
Ellen, who loves young Malcolm. The answer to 
his suit is rejection. He turns on Malcolm, who 
retires, with a threat or promise of returning. Rod- 
erick, who has resolved to resist the king's authority, 



16G SIR WALTER SCOTT. [iSio 

sends the Fiery Cross, which summons youth and age 
to his side among the lands which own his sway ; 
and this summoning of the clan is depicted with great 
force. Next comes news that the royal troops are 
already on the advance. A prophecy is uttered : — 

" Which spills the foremost foeman's life, 
That party conquers in the strife." 

Ellen, with her family, has retired to a place of 
safety : and the Knight of Snowdoun returns with an 
offer to conduct her to Stirling, then inhabited by 
the king; meets with a confession that she loves 
another, and, his better nature prevailing, presents 
her with a ring, which he says King James had 
given to him, with a promise, that, on showing it, any 
favor asked would be granted. He retires, escorted 
by a guide, whom he slays for his treachery. After 
this, he wanders on; comes up to one of Roderick's 
watchfires ; receives hospitality ; for 

" To assail a wearied man were shame ; 
And stranger is a holy name ; " 

and next morning his entertainer guides him till 
past Clan- Alpine's outmost guard. Fitz- James, as 
they walk along, expresses his enmity to Roderick 
Dhu, and his hope soon to meet " this rebel chieftain 
and his band." The reply is a shrill whistle, a quick 
answer in the sudden uprising from copse and heath 
of five hundred men in arms, and the words, — 

" How say'st thou now ? 
These are Clan- Alpine's warriors true ; 
And, Saxon, 1 am Roderick Dhu 1 " 

All this is conveyed to the reader in a manner which 
is at once pictorial and effective, the climax to v/hich 
is,— 

" Fitz- James was brave : though to his heart 
The life-blood thrilled with sudden start, 



^T. 39.] THE DOUGLAS. 167 

He manned himself with dauntless air, 
Returned the chief his haughty stare. 
His back against a rock he bore, 
And firmly placed his foot before : — 
' Come one, come all ! — this rock shall fly 
From its firm base as soon as I ! ' * 
Sir Roderick marked ; and in his eyes 
Respect was mingled with surprise, 
And the stern joy which warriors feel 
In foemen worthy of their steel." 

At a wave of his hand, the vassals disappear ; and 
the two continue on their course until they reach a 
level green at Coilantogle Ford, where a single combat 
ends in the defeat of Roderick, who is severely 
wounded ; Fitz- James having escaped unhurt, almost 
as if by a miracle. At his bugle-note, four mounted 
squires advance, — two in arms ; two leading Bayard, a 
saddled horse. Fitz-James directs that the wounded 
man be brought to Stirling, and dashes off to see the 
archer games at noon. His rapid ride could only 
have been brought before the reader by a bold and 
skilful horseman, and is one of the finest passages in 
the poem. The games take place ; and James of 
Douglas, Ellen's father, — who goes to Stirling to 
give himself up as a victim, to prevent the war aris- 
ing out of his being protected by Roderick Dhu, — 
wins the prizes for archery, wrestling, and " putting 
the stone," flings among the crowd the gold-pieces 
which he received from the king's hand, and at last, 
when the royal huntsman strikes Tufra, Ellen's fa- 
vorite dog, which first had pulled down a stag, levels 
the groom to the ground with a single buffet : — 

" Such blow no other hand could deal, 
Though gauntleted in glove of steel." 

* The original of this fine couplet is to be found in one of the notes to 
" Sir Tristrem," thus: "In Winton's Chronicle, the Earl of Athole, entering 
into battle, thus apostrophized a huge rock: ' By the face of God, thou shalt 
flee this day as soon as // ' " Scott's use of the words is more natural, as Fitz- 
James' s exclamation naturally arises out of the emergency of the moment. 



168 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i3lO 

His arrest follows ; and, when the Commons would 
have taken his part, he prevents it by wise counsel, 
and is conducted to the castle. 

The sixth canto winds up the story. Ellen visits 
Stirling to claim the clemency of the sovereign, — 
the fulfilment of his promise to Fitz-James. Rather 
roughly received in the guard-room, she exhibits the 
ring, which obtains instant respect and homage. 
Allan Bane, the harper, asks to see his master, the 
Douglas, but is admitted into the cell where Rod- 
erick is confined, and to him, on earnest entreaty, 
relates the details of the battle of Beal' an Duine 
between the forces of the crown and of the chieftain, 
ending with the sudden cessation of the contest by 
a royal message that Roderick and Douglas were 
both in captive hold ; but at this period of his lay 
perceived that Roderick had breathed his last, and 
changes his strain to a lament for " Alpine's hon- 
ored pine," — the tree which glanced in its banner. 

Next succeeds the denodment, artistical and grace- 
ful. Ellen, conducted to an apartment in the royal 
residence, awaits the coming of the Knight of Snow- 
doun, hears breathed through the lattice of an adja- 
cent tower a " Lay of the Imprisoned Huntsnaan," 
and recognizes the voice and affection of Malcolm 
Grseme. Fitz-James enters at this moment, and 
escorts her to the presence-chamber : — 

" Still by Fitz-James her footing staid : 
A few faint steps she forward made ; 
Then slow her drooping head she raised, 
And fearful round the presence gazed. 
For him she sought who owned this state. 
The dreaded prince whose will was fate. 
She gazed on many a princely port 
Might well have ruled a royal court, 
On many a splendid garb she gazed, 
Tlien turned bewildered and amazed : 
For all stood bare ; and, in the room, 
Fitz-James alone wore cap and plume* 



iET. 39.] THE KNIGHT OF SNOWDOUN. 169 

To him each lady's look was lent ; 

On him each courtier's eye was bent : 

INlidst furs and silks and jewels sheen, 

He stood, in simple Lincoln green. 

The centre of the glittering ring ; 

And Snowdoun's Knight * is Scotland's King ! " 

Ellen has nothing to ask for her father ; for he 
and his prince had •' much forgiven " on the evening 
before. She craved the pardon of Roderic Dhu ; and 
the king informs her, with the regret of a brave man, 
that he was of the dead. She gives the ring to her 
father : at a word, Malcolm appears and kneels down, 
the doom being 

" Fetters and warder for the Graeme ! " 

The story, culminating, as usual, in marriage, ends 
thus : — 

" His chain of gold the King unstrung : 
The links o'er Malcolm's neck he flung ; 
Then gently drew the glittering band, 
And laid the clasp on Ellen's hand." 

With the exception of the episode of Blanche of 
Devon's death, which has very little bearing on the 
action of the story, and of the harper's long narrative 
of the battle (in the sixth canto), the whole of " The 
Lady of the Lake " is full of interest. Malcolm, who 
finally gains the prize of Ellen's hand, fails to interest 
the reader : with all his faults, Roderick is more to be 
liked. The Knight of Snowdoun is drawn with 
equal vigor and skill, and, indeed, is the real hero of 
the poem. He is James V., King of Scotland, who 
died in 1542. He was son of James IV., who was 
slain at the battle of Flodden in 1513, and figures in 

* One of the six oflScial heralds of the Lyon office in Edinburgh bears 
the title of Snawdown. 



170 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i8iO 

" Marmion," nephew of Henry VIII. of England, 
cousin of Queen Elizabeth, and father of Mary, Queen 
of Scots. He was popularly called the King of the 
Commons, was gallant in war and love, and the hero 
of several adventures such as the poet has imagined. 
The final surprise, unusually effective, is not new in 
fiction. It was related, long before the era of Scott's 
story, in the Arabian tale of '' II Bondocani," with 
Haroun Alraschid as its hero ; but, curiously enough, 
such an incident had actually occurred to King James 
himself, who had told a countryman, that, at court, 
the king was to be recognized by his wearing his hat, 
all of inferior rank being uncovered. When the rural 
visitor was in the presence-chamber, and James asked, 
" Do you recognize the Idng ? " the answer was, 
" By my troth, it must be thou or myself ; for we two 
are the only persons here who are covered." 

It is singular, that in "Lalla Rookh," composed a few 
years after " The Lady of the Lake," Thomas Moore, 
in his effective scene where the Oriental princess 
discovers the King of Bokhara in the person of Fe- 
ramorz the minstrel, should have forgotten the dis- 
closure of James Fitz-James to Ellen. 

Frances Jeffrey in " The Edinburgh Review," and 
George Ellis in " The Quarterljr," appeared eager 
to bestow the highest praise upon " The Lady of the 
Lake." Jeffrey predicted that it would be read 
oftener than either of Scott's former poems, and Ellis 
complimented at once his pictorial skill and creative 
power. Southey and Wordsworth eulogized the poem, 
— each reserving a protest against the rapidity which 
the metre not only permitted, but encouraged. Can- 
ning and Ellis advised a return to the grand manner 
of Dryden ; which, with some modification, Byron 
soon after employed in " The Corsair " and " Lara," 
and which, about this time, Scott himself, speaking 
on the subject of poetry with James Ballantyne, 



^T. 39.] IN TORRES VEDRAS. 171 

warmly praised, as adopted in Johnson's " Vanity of 
Human Wishes " and '' London." He declared, tliat, 
in comparison of his own genius as a poet with that 
of Burns, " the two ought not be named on the same 
day," and that Campbell was not to be compared 
with Burns ; adding, " If you wish to speak of a real 
poet, Joanna Baillie is now the highest genius of our 
country." Yet at this moment, and indeed during 
the last thirty years, the Scottish poet most read is, 
not Joanna Baillie, but Robert Burns, the peasant- 
poet. Scott's own poems, once so popular, have 
been so much eclipsed by his prose romances, that 
they are comparatively neglected now ; and hence I 
have given a few extracts from the best of them. 

Among the warm and abundant commendations 
which descended upon Scott at this time was one in 
a shape of a letter from Lisbon, from his old friend 
Adam Fergusson, — the same who had been the means 
of his having, in his 3'outh, had a word from Burns. 
After many changes, Fergusson, in active life and as 
captain in the Fifty-eighth Infantry, was serving in 
the British army under Wellington, in August, 1811, 
when he wrote as follows : '' I need not tell you 
how greatly I was dehghted at the success of ' The 
Lady of the Lake.' I dare say you are by this time 
well tired of such greetings : so I shall only say, that 
last spring I was so fortunate as to get a reading of 
it when in the lines of Torres Vedras, and thought 
I had no inconsiderable right to enter into and judge 
of its beauties, having made one of the party on your 
first visit to the Trosachs ; and you will allow that 
a little vanity on my part on this account (every 
thing considered) was natural enough. While the 
book was in my possession, I had nightly invitations 
to evening-parties to read and illustrate passages of 
it: and I must say, that (though not conscious of 
much merit in the way of recitation) my attempts to 



172 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l8iO 

do justice to tlie grand opening of the stag-hunt 
were always followed with bursts of applause ; for 
this canto was the favorite among the rough sons of 
the fighting Third Division. At that time, supplies 
of various kinds, especially any thing in the way of 
delicacies, were very scanty ; and, in gratitude, I am 
bound to declare that to the good offices of ' The 
Lady ' I owed many a nice slice of ham and rummer 
of hot punch, which, I assure you, were amongst tlie 
most welcome favors that one officer could bestow 
on another during the long rainy nights of last Jan- 
uary and February. By desire of my messmates of 
the Black-cuffs, I some time ago sent a commission 
to London for a copy of the music of the boat-song, 
' Hail to the Chief,' as performed at Co vent Garden, 
but have not yet got it. If you can assist in this, I 
need not say that on every performance a flowing 
bumper will go round to the bard." It was inexpres- 
sively grateful to Scott's feelings to learn, and from 
an old school-fellow and friend, that in a far land, in 
the watches of the night, his poetry had cheered the 
gallant men who were battling for the right amid 
danger, difficulties, and privations. He heard from 
another source, and always took special pride in re- 
lating, that in the course of the day, when " The 
Lady of the Lake " first reached Adam Fergusson, he 
was posted with his company on a point of ground 
exposed to the enemy's artillery, — somewhere on the 
lines of Torres Vedras. The men were ordered to lie 
prostrate on the ground. While they kept that atti- 
tude, the captain, kneeling at their head, read aloud 
the description of the battle in Canto VI. ; and the 
listening soldiers only interrupted him by a joyous 
huzza whenever the French shot struck the bank 
close above them. I need scarcely add, that, though 
the 58th Infantry was nominally an English regi- 
ment, most of the rank and file had been enlisted in 



^T. 39-1 "WAVERLEY." 173 

Scotland : hence their appreciation of the hand-to- 
hand fight in the Perthshire Highlands. 

Immediately after the publication of " The Lady 
of the Lake," its author, after some hesitation be- 
tween the triple temptation of running over for a 
month or two to the seat of war (Portugal), a visit 
to his friend Mr. Morritt at Rokeby, or an expedi- 
tion to the Hebrides, decided on the latter, and pro- 
ceeded thither, accompanied by some of his family, 
his dog Wallace, and several friends. His purpose, 
then unavowed, was to behold the localities of a 
new poem, to be entitled "-The Lord of the Isles." 
He visited Staffa, with its wonderful cavern, Icolm- 
kill, Holy lona, Skye, Mull, and other places of note, 
journalizing as he went. On his return, having 
found the manuscript of that portion of '•'- Waver- 
ley " which he had written some years before, he 
sent it to James Ballantyne, in whose judgment he 
placed great confidence. 

In 1805, his friend William Erskine, to whose 
opinion he had always cheerfully submitted, had told 
him that '' Waverley " would probably not increase, 
not even maintain, his literary reputation. Ballan- 
tyne, writing in September, 1810, expressed himself 
as "amused," but saw too little to enable him to 
form a decided opinion ; and went on to say, " Con- 
sidering that ' sixty years since ' only leads us back 
to the year 1750, a period when our fathers were 
alive and merry, it seems to me that the air of an- 
tiquity diffused over the character is rather too great 
to harmonize with the time. The period is modern : 
Johnson was writing, and Garrick was acting; and, 
in fact, scarcely any thing appears to have altered 
more important than the cut of a coat. The account 
of the studies of Waverley seems unnecessarily 
minute. There are few novel-readers to whom it 
would be interesting. I can see at once the con- 



174 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i8ii 

nection between the studies of Don Quixote, or of 
the Female Quixote, and the events of their lives ; 
but I have not yet been able to trace betwixt Wa- 
verley's character and his studies such clear and de- 
cided connection. The account, in short, seemed to 
me too particular, — quite unlike your usual mode in 
your poetry, and less happy. It may be, however, 
that the further progress of the character will defeat 
this criticism. The character itself I think excellent 
and interesting ; and I was equally astonished and de- 
lighted to find in the last-written chapter that you 
can paint to the eye in prose as well as in verse. 
Perhaps your own reflections are rather too often 
mixed with the narrative ; but I state this with much 
difi&dence. I do not mean to object to a train of re- 
flections arising from some striking event ; but I don't 
like their so frequent recurrence. The language is 
spirited, but perhaps rather careless. The humor 
is admirable. Should you go on? My opinion is 
clearly, certainly. I have no doubt of success, 
though it is impossible to guess how much." This 
verdict did not encourage Scott, and '' Waverley " 
was again locked up in his desk for some years. In 
James Ballantyne's memoranda, written long after 
on his death-bed, it is stated, that in 1814, when the 
work was going through the press under his watchful 
eye, he still did not think well of it ; and, when its 
success " knocked me down as a man of taste, all 
that the good-natured author said was, ' Well, I 
really thought you were wrong about the Scotch.' 
Why, Burns by his poetry had already attracted uni- 
versal attention to every thing Scotch ; and I confess 
that I couldn't see why I should not be able to keep 
the flame alive merely because I wrote Scotch in 
prose, and he in verse." 

At this time, while the demand for Scott's own 
writings was so great as fairly to overtask the pro- 



^T. 40.] "DON RODERICK." 175 

ductive facilities of the Ballantyne press (this was be- 
fore the application of steam, when hand-presses only 
were used), the works which, on his recommendation, 
John Ballantyne & Co. were publishing, were so much 
dead weight, — a new and not good edition of Beau- 
mont and Fletcher's plays. Other heavy specula- 
tions were the Tixall poetry ; a huge history of " The 
Culdees," by Dr. Jamieson, in quarto; and " The Ed- 
inburgh Annual Register," which in one year ex- 
tended to a couple of thick octavo volumes. In fact, 
at this time, and later, Scott fancied that such books 
as pleased himself ought to please the world. Con- 
stable the publisher, a very shrewd man, said, " I 
like Scott's ain bairns, but dislike the bairns whom 
he adopts." So the Ballantynes, as publishers^ were 
losing, not only the money they made as printers^ but 
were in debt, and had involved Scott in large losses 
and heavy responsibilities. Towards the close of 
1810, notwithstanding his successes, Scott spoke of 
going to India, in the event of his friend, Mr. Dundas, 
being sent there as Viceroy. He did not think that 
literature should be the aim and end of his life ; and 
already, though only in his fortieth year, was weighed 
down beneath the troubles of his secret trade-partner- 
ship. 

Early in 1811 he wrote a poem, " The Vision of 
Don Roderick," the profits of which he devoted 
to a fund then collecting in London for the relief 
of the Portuguese, who had suffered much in life 
and property during Massena's campaign. It was 
published in July, a large quarto edition having 
rapidly gone off. The idea of this poem was taken 
from the Spanish tradition, that Roderick, the last 
Gothic king of Spain, when the invasion of the 
Moors was impending, descended into an ancient 
vault near Toledo, the opening of which had been 
denounced as fatal to the Spanish monarchy. His 



176 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i8il 

rash curiosity was mortified, it was said, by an em- 
blematic representation of the Saracens, who soon 
after defeated liim in battle, and reduced Spain under 
their dominion. In the poem other Peninsular revo- 
lutions were introduced, the third showing the con- 
dition of the country under the invasion by Bona- 
parte. The stanza employed was a modification of 
the Spenserian. The Past and the Present were 
exhibited in this poem. Mr. Jeffrey preferred the 
former : but under the latter are some splendid stan- 
zas ; not those in Avhich, with singular bad taste, 
sternly reproved by " The Edinburgh Review," it 
was said of Bonaparte, 

" From a rude isle his ruder lineage came," 

but more particularly those in which the " various 
hosts" are characterized, — English, Scotch, and 
Irish, — each with a distinctive meed of praise. The 
reviews, generally, spoke highly of " The Vision." 
Lady Wellington, who did not know him personally, 
wrote to Scott, thanking him for his fine tribute to her 
husband ; and one of the last letters she ever wrote 
was to bid him farewell, and thank him for the solace 
his works had afforded her during her fatal illness. 

The reception of " Don Roderick " by the public 
would have satisfied most authors ; but the success of 
'' The Lady of the Lake " had been so great, that 
Scott felt dissatisfied, particularly as he was shrewd 
enough to perceive that the patriotic and political 
feeling which it expressed had recommended it, 
apart from its poetical merit, to many readers. The 
contest with Bonaparte, pertinaciously carried on in 
Spain by England, almost single-handed, occupied 
the public mind. " The Vision of Don Roderick," 
which was a glorification of the contest in Spain, 
gratified the amour propre of the British people. 

Canning, while he accepted the stanza of " The Vis- 



^T. 40.] ON TWEEDSIDE. 177 

ion " as an improvement upon the octosyllabic metre 
of previous poems, still urged Scott to do himself full 
justice in poetical narration, by attempting, at least, 
the rhyme of Dryden's " Fables." The result was a 
poem in the heroic couplet, entitled " The Poacher," 
the merit of which, as an imitation, Crabbe instantly 
admitted, saying (it was published anonymously), 
" This man, whoever he is, can do all that I can, and 
something more.'" Some other imitations of living 
poets appeared at the same time without his name ; 
so early was the begining of his literary mystifications. 
In 1811, too, he contributed some articles to " The 
Quarterly Review," and supplied a preface and a 
copious bod}^ of notes to an edition of Wilson's " Se- 
cret History of the Court of King James I." 

In this year too, after a long delay, Scott came into 
a salary of thirteen hundred pounds a year as Clerk 
of Session ; Mr. Home, for whom he had officiated 
since 180(3 without fee or reward, retiring on a pension. 
This large accession to his income confirmed him in 
the design, or rather desire, he long had entertained, — 
of buying some land, and becoming a Tweedside laird. 
His lease of Ashestiel had expired. He was tenant at 
will, under a heavy rent. He wrote to James Bal- 
lantyne that he wanted "a piece of ground sufficient 
for a cottage and few fields." He found two such, 
either of which would have suited him ; but both 
would make a very desirable property indeed. They 
stretched along the Tweed, nearly half-way between 
Melrose and Selkirk ; and could be had for between 
seven thousand to eight thousand pounds, or either 
separate for about half that sum. He proposed to 
obtain it by his pen, — with a new poem to be ready 
for the press within a year at farthest, — and would 
put aside his newly-accruing salary to form a sinking 
fund to pay off this money ; hoping, at his age, yet to 
sit under the shade of a tree of his own planting. 

12 



178 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i8ll 

Finally, one of the pieces of land was purchased 
from his old friend Dr. Douglas, the minister of 
Galashiels, who had never attempted to improve the 
property beyond planting on it one strip of firs, and 
had never settled on it. There was a rich meadow 
along the banks of the Tweed ; but at the back lay 
one hundred acres of neglected, undrained, cold, 
heathy land. There was a small and poor farm-house, 
with kail-yard and barn, and a puddly pond, covered 
with ducks and duck-weed ; from which aquatic nui- 
sance the place was called " Clarty Holes." * But 
the silvery Tweed, his favorite river, rippling over a 
bed of milk-white pebbles, was before him. The 
place had belonged to the great Abbey of Melrose ; 
and, from the ford below, Scott, desiring to re-name 
his purchase, called it Abbotsford. Half of the land 
he planted, reserving the other moiety for pasture 
and tillage. To his brother-in-law, Mr. Carpenter, 
in India, he wrote, saying that it had cost him four 
thousand pounds ; that, within the twelvemonth, he 
would build on it a small cottage for his summer 
abode, and give a great house-warming gala when he 
took possession of it ; adding, " As we are very clan- 
nish in this corner, all the Scotts in the country, from 
the duke to the peasant, shall dance on the green to 
the bag-pipes, and drink whiskey-punch." To Joanna 
Baillie he declared that he intended to have "only 
two spare bedrooms, with dressing-rooms, each of 
which could, on a pinch, have a couch-bed." 

These simple views were never realized : instead 
of the modest cottage arose the quaintly grotesque yet 
beautiful castellated mansion of Abbotsford. 

In the late Mr. R. P. Gillies's entertaining rather 
than wholly reliable " Recollections of Sir Walter 
Scott," a more ambitious view is presented. Visiting 

♦ Clarty is the Scottish dialect for very dirty. 



^T. 40.] THE BOW UNBENT. 179 

" Clarty Holes " a few days after he had bought it, 
Scott declared his design to be, — first to rear 
plenty of wood for ornament and shelter ; to grow 
enough of wheat and oats to feed men and horses. 
Fish and game abounded : sheep and kine could be 
got without making a raid into Traquair. For a 
dwelling, a hurricane-house could easily be run up. 
" Here," he said, " if I should ever become rich, is the 
spot whereon I would build my castle. In that level 
ground to the left I would have my garden ; and 
there should be a sweeping carriage-drive down the 
slope, opening from that cart-road on the hill-side." 

When the purchase of Abbotsford was made, Scott 
might be said to move in a duplex social system. As 
Clerk of Session, a station very little lower than the 
judicial, he could and did command free intercourse 
with the highest society in Edinburgh; and his own 
large family connections, including as kin and friends 
a large portion of the wealthy land-owners of the south 
of Scotland, raised him still higher, if it were neces- 
sary. His literary performances, with success unpre- 
cedented, made him, even thus early, a chief in 
Edinburgh society. In all these capacities he gave 
and partook of solemn dinners and other grave enter- 
tainments ; but he enjoyed himself, outside of this 
old-fashioned and formal intercourse, more familiarly 
with other friends. There was Constable, the pub- 
lisher (not inaptly called " The Crafty," a little later, 
in the Chaldee manuscript) ; there was often Charles 
Mathews, a gentleman and scholar, whose imitative 
power astonished, while his wit and reading delighted, 
the future lord of Abbotsford ; there was Daniel Terry, 
architect by profession, and player by choice, with a 
respectable stock of literary knowledge, and a kindred 
taste for old furniture and black-letter books ; there 
were the two Ballantynes, James and John, as con- 
trasted in appearance as the fat and lean kine of Pha- 



180 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i8ri 

raoh, and so different, that Scott facetiously spoke of 
one (in his absence, it may be supposed) as Aldo- 
borontiphoscophornio, while he called the other Rig- 
dum-Funnidos, — characters in Henry Carey's play of 
" Chrononhotonthologos." Now and then, Scott would 
give a few hours to such companions in Edinburgh ; 
while in the summer, when they were not much 
needed in the city, they were welcome guests by in- 
vitation, or whenever it pleased them to visit him. 
During the period of his highest success and apparent 
prosperity, he delighted to see around his table these, 
*Hhe old familiar faces." At the cottage in Lass- 
wade he had not received all of this jocund party, for 
the excellent reason, that he had not known all of 
them ; but often at Ashestiel they were with him, 
making and sharing mirth. Mrs. Scott, though she 
did not understand much of what they said, always 
received them very kindly, and — sure indication of 
good sense — was delighted to see her husband unbend 
the bow in their company. He, as I heard from one 
of the party, only said enough to set the conversa- 
tion going, most delighting in listening to the fun. 

If, in evil hour, Terry had not been stage-struck, 
but had remained in practice of his profession, he 
might have lived and died a rich man. He spent the 
autumn of 1811 with Scott at Ashestiel, and rode 
over the new purchase daily, assistingdiis friend with 
his advice and talents, which, as he was an excellent 
draughtsman and architect, were of great value. 
There was, a few years ago, in the possession of the 
late Sir Thomas Dick Lauder's wife, the first 
sketch of the dwelling at Abbotsford, drawn by 
Scott's own hand in the clumsiest manner, showing 
merely a design for a sort of rustic piazza, the sup- 
porters being trees with the bark on, intended as a 
front to the original old cottage on Clarty Holes, 
after it had been '' stretched," as Scott said, into some 



^T. 40.] DANIEL TERRY. 181 

additional rooms, so as to be habitable by his family 
and a few guests. When Abbotsford, the stately, 
was completed, Scott presented this sketch to Lady 
Lander, saying, '' This it was to have been : I 
wish I had stuck to it." Mr. Terry, a man of no 
ordinary sagacity (in other persons' affairs), vetoed 
this sketch, declaring that he knew the impossibility 
of Scott's adhering to it, and planned a mansion, 
which, year by year, might be enlarged at will, so as 
to form a splendid whole when completed, but which 
at any stage would not look incomplete. Thus the 
house and grounds of Abbotsford were planned and 
laid out by Daniel Terry. Early in 1812 he went 
on the London stage, where he succeeded in old-com- 
edy and eccentric-comedy parts. Almost every sum- 
mer he returned to Edinburgh, and, wherever he was, 
assisted Scott at Abbotsford with professional advice, 
or by his taste and knowledge in the purchase of lite- 
rary and antiquarian curiosities. As Mr. Lockhart inti- 
mates, he was to Scott, during all these years, as if 
one of the Ballantynes had his headquarters in Lon- 
don. 



CHAPTER XII. 



"Childe Harold." — " Bridal of Trierraain."— " Rokeby." — " The Giaour."— 
Lord Byron. — " Ariosto of the North." — Wellington, Davy, and Watt. — 
Removal to Abbotsford. — The Future Castle. — Voyage North. — The 
Lighthouse Commission. — " Lord of the Isles." — O'Connell's Quotation. — 
"FieldofWaterloo." — "Harold the Dauntless."— "Sultan of Serendib."— 
John Kemble's Retirement. — Parodists: Paulding, the Smiths, Colman, 
and Moore. — The Laureateship declined. 

1812 — 1813. 

ONE -HALF of the four thousand pounds paid by 
Scott for the fresh purchase of land on Tweed- 
side was obtained on the promise of a new poem, 
to be called " Rokeby," after the beautiful and ro- 
mantic estate of his friend Morritt in Yorkshire. He 
had been much interested, years before, in its fine 
scenery, with which he proposed to connect a tale of 
the civil wars of Charles I. From Mr. Morritt, of 
course, he received a great deal of local, historical, 
and antiquarian information, with a hint that the 
better time for a romance would be farther back, — 
during the war of the Two Roses. 

Byron, who, before he went on his foreign tour, 
had shown his facility and sharpness in '' EngHsh 
Bards," had returned with two cantos of " Childe 
Harold," written in his two-years' absence ; and on 
their publication by Murray, in London, in March, 
1812, to use his own words, '' woke one morning, and 
found himself famous." He had placed himself, at a 
single bound, on a summit such as no English poet 
had ever before attained but after a long succession 

182 



^T. 41.] REMOVAL TO ABBOTSFORD. 183 

of painful and comparatively neglected efforts. Scott, 
who instantly recognized the genius of this new rival 
in the contest for fame, felt that even to hold his own 
against such a competitor would require a greater 
effort and more care than he had hitherto exercised. 
He laid aside the materials for a poem on the sub- 
ject of Bruce, the Scottish hero-monarch, and com- 
menced the new romance of " Rokeby." His corre- 
spondence, for months before he began to write the 
poem, shows with what anxiety he was filling his 
mind with legends of the locality, with illustrations 
and incidents. The statement, in the annotated edi- 
tion, that " Rokeby " was begun on the 15th of Sep- 
tember, and finished on the last day of December, 
1812, cannot be correct ; for, in May of that year, 
Scott wrote to Morritt that he had at last moved into 
Abbotsford, long before it was completed ; and that, 
" As for the house and the poem, there are twelve 
masons hammering at the one, and one poor noddle 
at the other : so they are both in progress." At that 
time, he had no room to himself ; for Lockhart says, 
*' The only parlor which had been hammered into 
any thing like habitable condition served at once for 
dining-room, drawing-room, school-room, and study. 
A window looking to the river was kept sacred to his 
desk. An old bed-curtain was nailed up across the 
room, close behind his chair ; and there, whenever the 
spade, the dibble, or the chisel (for he took his full 
share in all the work on hand), was laid aside, he 
pursued his poetical tasks, apparently undisturbed 
and unannoyed by the surrounding confusion of ma- 
sons and carpenters, to say nothing of the ladies' small 
talk, the children's babble among themselves, or their 
repetition of their lessons." The truth no doubt was, 
that, when at his desk, he did little more, as far as 
regarded poetry^ than write down the lines which he 
had fashioned in his mind while pursuing his vocation 



184 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i8l2 

as a planter upon that bank which received origmally, 
by way of joke, the title of " The Thicket." This cer- 
tainly was the pursuit of poetry amid difficulties ; yet 
at this time, of all others, Scott chose to try the new 
experiment of carrying on two poems at the same 
time, — " Rokeby " being suspended for a season 
Avhile he was composing '' The Bridal of Triermain." 
During the progress of the larger poem, he revisited 
Rokeby Park, where he was observed to note even 
the peculiar little wild flowers and herbs that acci- 
dentally grew round and on the side of a bold crag 
over his intended robber's cave. When this was 
pointed out, he said, " that in Nature no two scenes 
are exactly alike, and that whoever copied truly what 
was before his eyes would possess the same variety 
in his descriptions, and exhibit apparently an imagi- 
nation as boundless, as the range of Nature in the 
scenes he recorded; whereas, whoever trusted to 
imagination would soon find his own mind circum- 
scribed, and contracted to a few favorite images, and 
the reiDetition of these would sooner or later produce 
that very monotony and bareness which had always 
haunted descriptive poetry in the hands of any but 
the patient worshippers of truth. Besides which," he 
said, " local names and peculiarities make a fictitious 
story look so much better in the face!" He was 
aware, of course, how successfully Homer and Milton 
have introduced the names of places into their great 
poems ; above all, he was so accurate, that " The Lay " 
and ^' Marmion " are capital guide-books through the 
border country, while " The Lady of the Lake " is as 
available for tourists to Loch Katrine. 

" Rokeby " is a story of the Civil War. The action 
occupies five days, immediately subsequent to the 
great battle of Marston Moor in July, 1644. This 
poem was more eagerly expected in London than in 
Edinburgh, where portions of it, read by James Bal- 



^T. 41.] " ROKEBY." 185 

lantyne to his coterie of critical friends, had failed to 
awaken much enthusiasm. It was considered, that, 
in this new poem, Scott desired fairly to measure 
swords with Byron. • llis own design was to present 
something different from his own preceding perform- 
ances, which had considerable rapidity of action^ and 
to rely more on character than he had done before. 
In a letter to Ballantyne, he said, " The force in 
' The Lay ' is thrown on style ; in ' Marmion,' on 
description ; and in ' The Lady of the Lake,' on 
incident." The sale of a large edition in quarto indi- 
cated curiosity as much as popular admiration. Mr. 
Morritt, as proprietor of the locality, thought more 
highly of it than most others. Still, the descriptions 
of scenery were very fine, the exhibition of character 
was good, and some of the incidents had novelty and 
power. Bertram Risingham, the actual hero, thus 
describes his course of life : — 

" My noontide, India may declare : 
Like her fierce sun, I fired the air ; 
Like him, to wood and cave bade fly 
Her natives from mine angry eye. 
And now, my race of terror run, 
Mine be the eve of tropic sun 1 
No pale gradations (juench his ray ; 
No twilight (lews his wrath allay : 
With disk like battle-target red 
He rushes to his burning bed, 
Dyes the wide wave with bloody light, 
Then sinks at once, and all is night." 

Byron never produced a more perfect image than 
this. 

Scott's own idea was, that the Roundheads were 
unpoetical in character ; but, independent of the fact 
that the period of the tale was at once too recent and 
too remote, perhaps the cause of comparative failure 
may be found in the iteration of the metre, which, by 
this time, other writers had successfully adopted. 



186 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l8l2 

There are songs scattered through " Rokeby," some 
of which, particularly ''Allan -a -Dale " and "The 
Cavalier," are among the best of Scott's lyrical effu- 
sions. 

" Rokeby," published in January, 1813, was fol- 
lowed by Byron's " Giaour," which, with its intense 
passion and Oriental coloring, immediately eclipsed it. 
Between both poems appeared " The Bridal of 
Triermain," which had been struck off at a heat by 
Scott, as a relief to his mind while the longer poem 
was in progress. By way of laying a trap for Mr. 
Jeffrey (who, however, escaped it by being in Amer- 
ica when it was published), great care was taken to 
conceal the authorship, and even to fix it upon Mr. 
William Erskine (afterwards Lord Kinedder), Scott's 
particular friend. The secret was told to few in 
Scotland, and only to Mr. Morritt in England. 
Erskine lent himself tacitly to the innocent cheat. 
Ballantyne re-copied the whole of the manuscript for 
the press, and the public were taken in for a time, — 
many recognizing the style which Scott had made 
familiar ; some tracing the personal characteristics of 
Erskine in the manner and language ; and a few 
fancying that Mr. R. P. Gillies, a clever Edinburgh 
young man of letters, who had committed " the sin of 
poetry," might have written it. After two large edi- 
tions had been sold, Erskine thought that the decep- 
tion had gone far enough, and the author's name was 
no longer concealed. The introduction, which pre- 
sents a pair of modern lovers, is graceful, delicate, 
and tender ; and the poem itself is a charming tale of 
chivalry, in which we pass from the splendid court 
of King Arthur to enchanted halls. Some years 
later, after " Waverley " had appeared, " Harold the 
Dauntless," by the author of " The Bridal of Trier- 
main," was published. Part of it had been actu- 
ally printed before '' Childe Harold " had challenged 



^T. 41.] BYRON. 187 

public favor. -It was critically pronounced to be a 
good imitation of Scott, but in all respects was infe- 
rior to " The Bridal of Triermain." 

Scott informed Lady Louisa Stuart that " Rokeby " 
had been wonderfully popular, — " About ten thou- 
sand copies having walked off already in about three 
months, and the demand continuing faster than it 
can be supplied." In the following June, wanting 
money to purchase a considerable addition to his 
property at Abbotsford, he proposed that Constable 
the publisher should give him five thousand pounds 
for the copyright of a poem to be written, entitled 
" The Nameless Glen," which subsequently received 
the more attractive title of " The Lord of the Isles." 
He was sorely pressed too, all through this summer, 
with the great and growing difiQculties of the pub- 
lishing-house of Ballantyne. He advanced every 
sixpence at his own command, and finally obtained 
the guaranty of his friend the Duke of Buccleugh, 
which procured him a credit of four thousand pounds 
from a bank in Edinburgh. In the autumn he 
matured the plan of " The Lord of the Isles," and 
wrote such a portion of the first canto as enabled him 
to approach Constable with something more than the 
title of a poem. 

His good friend the Duke of Buccleugh died about 
the time when " Childe Harold" startled the world. 
Among other results, it had interested the Prince 
Regent of England, who, in conversation with Lord 
Byron, expressed himself so favorably of Walter 
Scott, that Murray the publisher, thinking there was 
a fair opportunity for smoothing the difficulty, if any, 
between the author of " Marmion " and his satirist in 
" English Bards," communicated with Scott ; from 
whom came a letter to Byron, expressing his ad- 
miration of " Childe Harold," stating the circum- 
stances under which he wrote '' Marmion," declaring 



188 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i8l2 

that his habits of life had rendered his defence as to 
avarice or rapacity rather too easy, and rejoicing 
that Murray's report of Byron's conversation with the 
Prince Regent had given him an excuse for writing 
to his Lordship. The reply to this, dated July 6, 1812, 
exhibits so much true courtesy on Byron's part, and so 
well explains the secret of Scott's future intimacy 
with the Prince Regent, that I cannot refrain from 
publishing it ; — 



" I have just been honored with your letter. I feel sorry that 
you should have thought it worth while to notice the evil works 
of my nonage, as the thing is suppressed voluntarily, and jour 
explanation is too kind not to give me pain. The satire was written 
when 1 was very young and very angry, and fully bent on display- 
ing my wrath and my wit ; and now 1 am haunted by the ghosts of 
my wholesale assertions. I cannot sufficiently thank you for your 
praise. And now, waiving myself, let me talk to you of the Prince 
Regent. He ordered me to be presented to him at a ball ; and 
after some sayings, peculiarly pleasing from royal lips, as to my 
own attempis, he talked to me of you and your immortalities. 
He preferred you to every bard past and present, and asked which 
of your works pleased me most. It was a difficult question. I an- 
swered, I thought ' The Lay.' He said his own opinion was nearly 
similar. In speaking of the others, I told him that I thought you 
more particularly the poet of Princes, as they never appeared more 
fascinating than in ' Marmion ' and ' The Lady of the Lake.' He 
was pleased to coincide, and to dwell on the description of your 
Jameses as no lass royal than poetical. He spoke alternately of 
Homer and yourself, and seemed well acquainted with both : so 
that (with the exception of the Turks and your humble servant) 
you were in very good company. I defy Murray to have exag- 
gerated his Royal Highness's opinion of your powers : nor can I 
pretend to enumerate all he said on the subject; but it may give 
you pleasure to hear that it was conveyed in language which would 
only suffer by my attempting to transcribe it, and with a tone 
and taste which gave me a very high idea of his abilities and ac- 
cjmplishments, which 1 had hitherto considered as confined to 
manners, eertainly superior to those of any living gentleman. 

" This interview was accidental. I never went to the levee; 
for, having seen the courts of Mussulman and Catholic sovereigns, 
my curiosity was sufficiently allayed ; and, my politics being as 
perverse as my rhymes, 1 had, in fact, no business there. To be 



^T. 41.] "ARIOSTO OF THE NORTH." 189 

thus praised by your Sovereign must be gratifying to you ; and, if 
(hat gratification is not alloyed by the communication being made 
through nie, the bearer of it will consider himself very fortunately 
and sincerely your obliged and obedient servant, 

"Byron." 

A reply from Scott led to a true friendship between 
the two poets when they met in London. How no- 
bly Scott showed his regard may be read in his arti- 
cle on the third canto of '' Childe Harold " in " The 
Quarterly Review," written immediatel}^ after Byron's 
retreat from England, after his wife's leaving him, in 
1816, — a courageous and noble vindication of a friend, 
absent and maligned, at a time when few had the 
spirit to defend him. Byron's regard for Scott was 
manifested in various Avays in after-times. To Scott 
was dedicated " Cain, a Mystery," one of the most 
thoughtful and philosophical of all Byron's writings ; 
and in his fourth canto of " Childe Harold " are the 
lines, — 

" The minstrel who called forth 
A new creation with his magic Hne, 
And, like the Ariosto of the North, 
Sang lady-love and war, romance and knightly worth." 

In that same summer of 1812, Mrs. Apreece, a 
young and wealthy widow of Scott's kindred, was 
married to Sir Humphry Davy, the great chemist 
and natural philosopher. This led to an acquaint- 
ance with Dav}^ which soon became intimate. In 
Scott's scale of appreciation, such a successful soldier 
as Wellington occupied the first rank. Next came 
the men of science, — Watt with his subjection of 
steam to purposes of national importance, as well as 
of individual comfort and convenience ; and Davy 
with his safety-lamp, which, if carefully and con- 
stantly used, would preserve human life risked in 
mines. In a letter to Joanna Baillie in 1825, Scott 



190 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1812 

said, " Men like Watt, or whose genius tends strongly 
to invent and execute those wonderful combinations 
which extend in such an incalculable degree the hu- 
man force and command over the physical world, do 
not come within ordinary rules." Literature, in which 
his own triumphs were achieved, he placed far below 
military, political, and scientific pursuits. 

In May, 1812, the flitting from Ashestiel to Ab- 
botsford took place. The distance was only five 
miles ; yet the removal was to a new district. The 
poor — to whom all the family had been very kind, 
Mrs. Scott thoughtfully and liberally so at all times, 
for prosperity did not spoil her noble, womanly na- 
ture — were perhaps the most missed. It was pleas- 
antly situated, the new homestead, on the banks of 
the Tweed, just above the confluence of the Gala, 
three miles from Melrose Abbey. " Our flitting and 
removal from Ashestiel," Scott wrote to Terry, then 
settled in London, " baffled all description. We had 
twenty-four cart-loads of the veriest trash in nature, 
besides dogs, pigs, ponies, poultry^ cows, calves, bare- 
head wenches, and bare-breeched boys." There was 
not so much trash, after all ; for among the miscel- 
lanies were furniture, books, pictures, and, as he 
wrote to Lady Alvanley, a very conspicuous show 
of old swords, bows, targets, and lances. Compelled 
to sit in his place in the Court of Session during por- 
tions of five days in the week, he spent part of Satur- 
day, and the whole of Sunday and Monday, in Ab- 
botsford, giving the master's glance over what had 
been done, correcting mistakes, endeavoring to have 
his own ideas carried out (rural laborers being in- 
clined to do or misdo things in their own stupid 
way), and inhaling that fresh, invigorating, out-of- 
doors air, which was to him the very breath of life ; 
as his own words put it, '' If he had not, he would die." 
Particularly did he look after his plantations, minding 



^T. 41.] PLANTATIONS. 191 

not merely the production of trees, which would be 
profitable after some years ia a district where timber 
was scarce, but their general aspect in the landscape, 
their utility in protecting some exposed spaces, and 
their welcome shade. " There," he said to Mr. Gil- 
lies (who knew about as much of arboriculture as 
he did of the squaring of the circle, or the alchemic 
change of lead into pure gold after the fashion de- 
scribed in Godwin's " St. Leon "), — " there the ground 
is poor for crops, but good for the growth of wood. 
I would jjlant a large proportion of mountain-ash, 
Scotch fir, and larch, for the sake of their rapid 
growth, near the castle, — if I ever should become 
so rich as to build one. On the hills I Avould prefer 
oak, birch, hazel, and other trees, the bark of which 
is suitable for the tanner ; so that, every fifteen or 
twenty years, those who come after me might have 
a profitable fall of copse-wood." He was fond of re- 
peating the advice of an old Scottish judge, who, 
never walking over his own property without put- 
ting his Malacca-cane into the ground and drop- 
ping an acorn into the hole, would say, " Be aye 
planting acorns : they will grow when you are asleep 
or doing worse." Some of Scott's acorns, however, 
did not turn out well. He got some from Trentham, 
in mid-England, the seat of his friend the Marchioness- 
Countess of Stafford-Sutherland ; but the field-mice 
devoured them in the earth : and a space which had 
been reserved for some Spanish chestnuts, sent from 
Seville, was not so applied, as the donor had unfor- 
tunately been so innocent and careful as to hoil his 
chestnuts before he sent them across the Bay of 
Biscay. 

Meantime, the building at Abbotsford was advan- 
cing. From Melrose Abbey (to use one of Scott's 
slang words) were " prigged " a great many carved 
stones which lay among the ruins. A large garden 



192 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1814 

was enclosed with a good stone wall. Stables and 
other out-offices, much larger than accorded with the 
apparent dimensions of the rising habitation, were 
erected. Lastly, young Walter Scott, now eleven 
years old, was taken in hand by George Thompson, 
a one-legged scholar, son of the Presbyterian minister 
from Melrose (Scott himself being an Episcopa- 
lian), a great athlete and horseman in spite of his 
bodily disadvantage, and by his learning, oddities, 
absence of mind, and honorable principles, proba- 
bly suggesting to Scott (with some recollection of 
Whale, his odd teacher at Kelso Grammar School) 
the subsequent Dominie Sampson of " Guy Man- 
nering." 

In unbuilt, at least in scarcely habitable Abbots- 
ford, during this summer of 1812, Scott, without even 
a den for himself the size of a sentry-box, was work- 
ing in triplicate, so to say. He was preparing his edi- 
tion of Swift, over the delay of which Constable 
grumbled very much, and not without cause, and 
writing two poems at once. His idea of relieving his 
mind by giving it additional but varied work was 
original at that time. We have since seen that " Pick- 
wick " and " Oliver Twist " were simultaneously 
written while their author was editing a monthly 
magazine ; but there have been only one Walter Scott 
and one Charles Dickens. 

Early in July, 1814, '' Waverley" was published, 
anonymously; and at the end of that month, before 
the work had excited much attention, Scott went on a 
six- weeks' voyage round the greater part of Scotland, 
from Leith to Glasgow, as the guest of the Light- 
house Commissioners. He visited Orkney and Zet- 
land, renewed his acquaintance with the Hebrides, 
and obtained considerable local information of infinite 
value to his contemplated poem, passing over ground 
which Bruce had trodden nearly five centuries before. 



^T. 43.] " LORD OF THE ISLES." 193 

He also visited the caves of Staffa, and saw the 
Giant's Causeway. His return was clouded with 
tidinc,^s of the death of his good friend the Duchess 
of Buccleugh, the lady at whose request he had writ- 
ten "■ The Lay." In announcing his return in a letter 
to Morritt, he said, " My principal employment for 
the autumn will be reducing the knowledge I have 
acquired of the localities of the islands into scenery 
and stage-room for ' The Lord of the Isles,' of which 
renowned romance I think I have repeated some por- 
tions to you. It was elder born than ' Rokeby,' 
though it gave place to it in publishing." 

Early in September, he arranged for its publica- 
tion by Constable. It was published on the 18th of 
January, 1815 ; and, before the public had delivered its 
verdict, he told Morritt, " It closes my poetic labors 
upon an extended scale." The criticisms of the two 
great Reviews were more favorable than those on 
" Rokeby," but intimated that the poem did not come 
up in interest to '' The Lady of the Lake " or " Mar- 
mion." Of the first edition in quarto, eighteen hun- 
dred copies were sold ; and up to 1830, when Scott's 
works were collected, the sale was fifteen thousand 
copies. But the first sale was smaller even than that 
of '^ Rokeby ; " while Lord Byron, from the eager 
abundance of his genius, was rapidly producing tales 
which had a sale altogether unprecedented, — fifteen 
thousand copies of " The Corsair " being ordered, it 
was said, before publication. How Scott bore this 
new condition of things has thus been stated in James 
Ballantyne's Memoranda : — 

'' ' Well, James,' he said, ' I have given you a week: 
what are people saying about " The Lord of the 
Isles " ? ' I hesitated a little, after the manner of Gil 
Bias ; but he speedily brought the matter to a point. 
' Come,' he said, ' speak out, my good fellow : what 
has put it into your head to be on so much cere- 

13 



194 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1815 

mony with me all of a sudden ? But I see how it is : 
the result is given in one word, — Disappointment.'' 
My silence admitted his inference to the fullest extent. 
His countenance certainly did look rather blank for a 
few seconds : in truth, he had been wholly unpre- 
pared for the event ; for it is a singular fact, that be- 
fore the public, or rather the booksellers, had given 
their decision, he no more knew whether he had writ- 
ten well or ill, than whether a die thrown out of a 
box was to turn up a size or an ace. However, he in- 
stantly resumed his spirits, and expressed his wonder 
rather that his poetical popularity should have lasted 
so long, than that it should have now at last given 
away. At length he said with perfect cheerful- 
ness, ' Well, well, James, so be it : but you know 
we must not droop ; for we can't afford to give over. 
Since one line has failed, we must just stick to some- 
thing else ; ' and so he dismissed me, and resumed his 
novel." 

He was then at work upon the third volume of 
" Guy Mannering." A few days after this, he said, 
" James, Byron hits the mark where I don't even 
pretend to fledge my arrow." Long after this, when 
Byron was in Italy, he thus wrote, in a private diary, 
of Scott : " His poetry is as good as any, if not better 
(only on an erroneous system) ; and only ceased to be 
so popular because the vulgar-learned were tired of 
hearing ' Aristides called the Just,' and Scott the Best, 
and ostracized him." 

'' The Lord of the Isles " may be said to have 
closed Scott's poetical career. It contained some 
striking descriptions of scenery ; but, as usual, the 
nominal was not the actual hero. Like young Lochin- 
var's rival, he is a " laggard in love," neglecting, and 
even slighting, Edith, the Maid of Lorn, on what was 
to have been their bridal day ; transferring his fluctu- 
ating affection to Isabel, fair sister of the Bruce ; and 



^T. 44.] o'connell's quotation. 195 

finally returning to Edith when his suit was rejected 
elsewhere, — his wedding her involving the suspicion 
that her having become heiress to all her father's 
possessions might have influenced him. Edith, like 
Constance de Beverley in " Marmion " and some 
others of Scott's heroines, assumes the disguise of a 
page. Robert the Bruce, the true hero of the story, 
bears himself right royally in it throughout. The 
description of the battle of Bannockburn, though 
scarcely equal to that of Flodden Field in " Mar- 
mion," is infinitely superior to Allan Bane's long- 
winded account of the skirmish near Loch Katrine 
in " The Lady of the Lake." Perhaps the self- 
devoted death of the English knight Egidrius de 
Argentine, who was slain as described by the poet, 
is one of the finest incidents in the annals of chiv- 
alry. There are some ballads full of beauty and 
freshness interspersed through the narrative. 

During the Irish monster-meetings in 1843, Mr. 
O'Connell, who delivered the same speech, with a 
few alterations to suit the locality, at each gathering, 
introduced six lines of energetic poetry, but ever, 
with an hilarious laugh, refused to say whether they 
were original. They read thus : — 

" O Erin ! shall it e'er be mine 
To wreak thy wrongs in battle-line ; 
To raise my victor-head, and see 
Thy hills, thy dales, thy people, free ? 
That glance of bliss is all I crave 
Betwixt my labors and my grave." 

The passage, as an apostrophe to Scotland, is to 
be found in the fourth canto of " The Lord of the 
Isles," and is there supposed to have been spoken by 
King Robert Bruce. 

The final downfall of Napoleon Bonaparte, in 
June, 1815, gladdened Scott's heart. He rejoiced in 



196 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1815 

his own manner by rapidly writing a poem entitled 
" The Field of Waterloo," which was published in 
October, 1815, for the benefit of the widows and 
orphans of the soldiers slain in battle. Inferior as it 
was, the sale was very considerable, in consequence 
of the cheap form in which it appeared. Some pas- 
sages showed a good deal of the spirit and earnest- 
ness which had won admiration in earlier days. The 
tribute to Wellington, whom Scott considered the 
greatest man of the age, is as fine, perhaps, as ever 
was paid in song to any warrior : — 

" Thou too, whose deeds of fame renewed 
Bankrupt a nation's gratitude, 
To thine own noble heart must owe 
More than the meed she can bestow. 
For not a people's just acclaim, 
Not the full hail of Europe's fame, 
Thy Prince's smiles, thy State's decree, 
The ducal rank, the gartered knee, — 
Not these such pure delight afford, 
As that, when hanging up thy sword, 
Well mayst thou think, ' This honest steel 
Was ever drawn lor public weal ; 
And, such was rightful Heaven's decree, 
Ne'er sheathed unless with victory ! ' " 

The general execution of this poem justified the 
sharp saying, that " Walter Scott fell on ' The Field 
of Waterloo.' " 

This was the last poem, of any pretension, written 
by Walter Scott. " Harold the Dauntless," published 
in 1817, was partly printed before the appearance of 
" Childe Harold ; " and the amusing sketch, entitled 
" The Sultan of Serendib," is too slight to rank with 
his important productions. The fun turns upon an un- 
fortunate potentate, who, his physicians assure him, 
can only be cured from a dreadful malady by putting 
upon him the shirt of a happy man. Emissaries are 



^T. 44.] PARODISTS. 197 

sent in all directions in quest of this individual, who 
finally turns up, to quote from poor Maginn's song, 
in the person of 

" A nasty, ugly Irishman, 
A wild, tremendous Irishman, 
A tearing, swearing, thumping, bumping, ramping, roaring Irish- 
man," 

who laughs in their faces, and finally is discovered as 
neither wearing nor owning the inner garment whose 
transfer was to be so salutary to Sultan Solimaun ! 
So 

" The king, disappointed, with sorrow and shame 
Went back to Serendib as sad as he came." 

To this time, also, belongs the Address written for 
and spoken by John Kemble on taking leave of the 
Edinburgh stage. He said in the green-room, before 
the curtain was raised, that he '' was determined to 
leave behind him the most perfect specimen of his 
art which he had ever shown ; " and his Macbeth 
fulfilled that purpose. The most impressive passage 
in the Address was this : — 

" Higher duties crave 
Some space between the theatre and the grave. 
That, like the Roman in the Capitol, 
I may adjust my mantle ere I fall : 
My life's brief art in public service flown, 
The last, the closing scene must be my own." 

Kemble, who retired to the Continent on leaving 
the stage, died, struck down by paralysis, at Lausanne, 
in February, 1823. 

Like other successful poets, Scott had parodists 
and satirists. Byron, as I have shown, pounced upon 
him in '' English Bards and Scotch Reviewers," not 
only with ridicule of certain mannerisms, but with 
serious denunciation of his having accepted high com- 



198 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1815 

pensation for his productions. Ere long, Byron was 
himself as keen, as if he depended solely on his pen, 
in bargaining with liberal John Murray. In " The 
Rejected Addresses," by the brothers Smith, there 
had been a very clever parody of " Marmion." J. K. 
Paulding the American novelist, and George Colman 
the dramatist, had paid like tribute in their burlesques 
on " The Lay" and "The Lady." The American 
was far better than the English parody, containing 
some passages, indeed, almost equal to the original. 
But " The Lay of the Scotch Fiddle " lacked the 
broad, rollicking fun of Colman's " Lady of the 
Wreck." In the original poem there is a spirited 
boat-song, commencing, 

" Hail to the chief, who in triumpli advances ! 
Honored and blest be the ever-green pine ! ** 

which in the parody, the scene of which was in Ire- 
land, was changed to, 

*' Hail to our chief, now he's wet through with whiskey I 
Long life to the lady come from the salt seas I " 

It was not to be expected that " Rokeby," with its 
very suggestive title, could escape. Accordingly, 
Mr. Paulding produced " Jokeby," also in six cantos. 
A jest which occupies a whole volume can scarcely 
be effective. It resembles that famous piece of ord- 
nance, the Meg Mons, now mounted at Edinburgh 
Castle, which, though very large, made more noise 
than mischief in the distant days when it was dis- 
charged. Far more annoying are the light arrows of 
the Saracens, which fly arouud in all directions, re- 
quiring the utmost vigilance to evade, and often 
piercing the armor at unexpected moments. Such 
were the sharp and glancing shafts of Thomas Moore. 
His amusing brochure, " The Twopenny Post-Bag," 



.q-T. 44] MOORE's " TWOPENNY POST-BAG." 199 

published about this time, had this couplet in a pseudo- 
letter from the Countess of Cork, the lively Lady 
Bellair of Disraeli's novel "Henrietta Temple : " — 

" By the way, you've seen " Rokeby " ? This moment got mine, — 
The mail-coach edition, — prodigiously fine ! " — 

which alluded to an advertisement from Murray the 
publisher, announcing that copies of the new poem 
in quarto, and received from Edinburgh by mail- 
coach, were on sale by him. In Moore's lively vol- 
ume, also, was a poetical epistle, purporting to have 
been written by Messrs. Lackington, the then well- 
known London publishers, to one of their trade-au- 
thors. It concluded thus : — 

" Should you feel any touch of poetical glow, 
We've a scheme to suggest : — Mr. Scott, you must know, 
(Who, we're sorry to say it, now works for the Row,) 
Having quitted the Borders to seek new renown, 
Is coming, by long Quarto stages, to town ; 
And, beginning with ' Rokeby' (the job's sure to pay). 
Means to do all tlie Gentlemen's Seats on the way. 
Now, the scheme is (though none of our hackneys can beat him) 
To start a fresh Poet through Highgate to jneet him ; 
AVho, by means of quick proofs, — no revises, — long coaches, 
May do a lew Villas before Scott approaches. 
Indeed, if our Pegasus be not curst shabby, 
He'll reach, without foundering, at least Woburn Abbey." 

The satirist had the laughers on his side, — some 
of them being persons who could not forgive Scott's 
success. They have many successors, even in the 
present era of advanced civilization. 

In closing this account of Scott's career as a poet, 
it should be mentioned, that, early in 1813, an intima- 
tion was made to him, that, in case he should visit 
London, his bow would be acceptable at Carlton 
House, then the residence of the Prince Regent. 
It was understood that his Royal Highness, greatly 



200 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1815 

admiring " The Lady of the Lake," was willing, by 
receiving Scott socially, to condone an offence he had 
committed in paying his respects to the Princess of 
Wales, when in London, some years before. When 
Pitt and Fox were both alive, Scott, like most other 
Tories of that day, patronized that lady, because she, 
like them, was at war with her husband, — she on 
personal, the others on political grounds. When the 
prince, as Regent, declined to put his old friends the 
Whigs into highest office, Scott's Toryism rejoiced. 
It was not until March, 1815, however, that the Re- 
gent made Scott's personal acquaintance, with which 
he professed, and indeed appeared, to be highly grati- 
fied. From that time, Scott never visited London 
without being the Regent's guest, there or at Wind- 
sor. 

In August, 1813, the office of poet-laureate becom- 
ing vacant, it was offered to Scott. His first impulse 
was to decline it, though he believed that its income 
was three hundred to four hundred pounds a year ; 
but, on consultation with the Duke of Buccleugh, 
he determined, having sixteen hundred pounds a 
year from two other public offices, not to accept a 
third, whose smaller emolument might do real service 
to some poorer brother of the Muses. He respect- 
fully declined the proffered office, and recommended 
Southey as suitable for it. This appointment was 
made ; the Prince Regent sensibly agreeing that the 
birthday ode, — a lyric of high-flown adulation, 
wedded to machine-made music, — which had been 
omitted since the illness of George III., should here- 
after be entirely dispensed with. 

The Duke of Buccleugh's advice to Scott, on the 
laureateship, was partly based on the fact that the 
office was stamped ridiculous by the general concur- 
rence of the world, and that Walter Scott^ poet-lau- 



^T. 44.] 



THE LAUREATESHIP. 



201 



reate^ would cease to be Walter Scott of " The Lay," 
" Marmion," &c. Yet it had been held by Edmund 
Spenser, Ben Jonson, John Dryden, and Thomas 
Warton ; and, in our own time, by Robert Southey, 
William Wordsworth, and Alfred Tennyson. 




CHAPTER XIII. 

Novel-Reading and Novel-Writing. — Prose Fictions before Scott. — " Waver- 
ley " resumed and published. — Authorship concealed. — Suspicion points to 
Scott. — Lighthouse Voyage. — Thomas Scott. — Miss Edgeworth's Lost 
Letter.— Miss Mitford's Criticism. — Dugald Stewart. 

1814. 

BEFORE Scott had given over writing long poems, 
he diverged into another branch of literature, 
in which he obtained higher and more permanent 
fame than that Avhich he had won as a minstrel. 
Many persons have scarcely read his poetical ro- 
mances ; but who is not familiar with the Waverley 
novels ? 

As great a novel-reader as Lord Brougham, Lord 
Lyndhurst, and Daniel O'Connell (the last of whom 
once declared to me that the advantages of steam, as 
applied to travelling on sea and land, were counter- 
balanced by the abridgment of the time he used to 
devote to the perusal of works of fiction), Walter 
Scott saw, before he began to write, that the novels 
and romances of the present century, and particu- 
larly at its commencement, were unsuited to the 
changed condition of society in his own time. The 
dramatists of the Elizabethan age produced stories, 
historical or comic, which, two centuries later, would 
probably have appeared in prose as historical ro- 
mances, or novels of society. In an age when readers 
were few, the tales acted on the stage were the prin- 
202 



^CT. 43-] NOVELS OF THE PAST. 203 

cipal popular sources of intellectual enjoyment. For 
a long time after the death of Shakspeare, the drama 
may be said to have fallen into abeyance. Thirty or 
forty years of civil strife, during which imaginative 
literature was at a discount, followed the death of 
Shakspeare ; and, though there was a revival of the 
drama between the Restoration in 1660 and the 
Revolution in 1688, little effective in that line was 
presented until Dryden bade the dry bones live. 
Bunyan's immortal " Pilgrim's Progress," in this 
time, was the favorite reading of the people ; and the 
" Decameron " of Boccaccio, Rabelais' comic and 
satiric adventures of " Gargantua and Pantagruel," 
and Cervantes' wonderful " Don Quixote," became 
well known in England through translations. So, 
at a later period, were the Abbe Prevost's " Ma- 
non I'Escaut " (like the younger Dumas' " La Dame 
aux Camelias," the apotheosis of a professional im- 
pure), Rousseau's " Nouvelle Heloise," Le Sage's 
"Gil Bias" and " Le Diable Boiteux," Voltaire's 
'^ Candide and Zadig," St. Pierre's " Paul and Vir- 
ginia," Goethe's " Sorrows of Werther," and a few 
other foreign works. 

When the seventeenth century opened, the gross 
novels of Mrs. Aphra Behn, which had delighted the 
gay and careless courtiers of the closing years of the 
Stuart dynasty, fell into disrepute. The age of 
Queen Anne, which has been entitled the Augustan, 
exhibited comparative decency, at least in its prose 
fiction ; and under the new dynasty, though not quite 
so scrupulous (for the first two Guelphic sovereigns 
were themselves unmistakably immoral in their do- 
mestic and social relations), public taste became im- 
proved. De Foe's '' Robinson Crusoe," which does 
not contain a single impure incident or expression, 
speedily obtained a popularity which it still enjoys. 
Swift's "Gulliver," a political fiction, which is a 



204 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1814 

satire on human nature, also had (and has) a multi- 
tude of readers, who, opening it merely to be enter- 
tained by the wonderful adventures it contains, nar- 
rated with a most artistic vraisemblance, scarcely 
notice its too prevailing coarseness. Richardson and 
Fielding, however, may rank as the inventors of the 
English novel, though not of its higher class, — the 
historical. There runs an under-current of indeli- 
cacy, not very decided, but adapted to the sensuous 
taste of the time, through Richardson's sentimental- 
ity ; and yet the author of " Pamela " and " Clarissa 
Harlowe " affected to be a purist in morals. Next 
to him is Fielding, — who had begun as a satirical 
parodist, and ended by establishing a new scliool of 
story-tellers, — who rejoiced in what Scott has called 
*' warmth of description." Fielding, with all his 
faults, possessed genius, and was followed by Smol- 
lett, who photographed the manners and exhibited 
the vices of many grades of society. Sterne, decided- 
ly a man of genius, was not restrained from gross 
indelicacy by a sense of what was due to his office 
as a clergyman. Oliver Goldsmith, whose " Vicar 
of Wakefield," much as all readers admire it, has 
serious defects in construction and sentiment, might 
have produced a real novel of English society, but 
" died too soon," when Scott was only three years 
old. Horace Walpole's " Castle of Otranto," written 
in 1763, was its author's solitary work of fiction, 
and owed as much at least to his rank as to novelty 
of design or execution. Clara Reeve's Gothic ro- 
mance, " The Old English Baron," alone remembered 
out of her many works, was an almost avowed imita- 
tion of Walpole's romantic story, and a decided im- 
provement upon it. 

When Scott wrote the first chapters of '^ Waverley," 
in 1805, the principal living novelist was Mrs. Rad- 
cliffe, whose very sensational romances outdid all con- 



^T. 43] LAST-CENTURY NOVELISTS. 205 

temporary productions. With her began high pay- 
ments for such works. She received five hundred 
pounds for " The Mysteries of Udolpho ; " and eight 
hundred pounds for " The Italians," its successor. 
To-day, these stories, crowded with crime and with 
apparently supernatural effects (all of which are 
elaborately explained away at the close), would 
scarcely engage the attention of a novel-reader for 
half an hour. Henry Mackenzie's stories, popu- 
lar in their day, were didactic and sentimental, and 
had got out of fashion. Cumberland the dramatist, 
preserved in " the crystal amberization " of Sheri- 
dan's " Critic " as Sir Fretful Plagiary, had finally 
lapsed into writing novels which possessed the coarse- 
ness of Fielding, without his wit ; yet his play, 
" The West-Indian," which presents the truest char- 
acter of an Irish gentleman ever put upon the stage, 
was surpassed in its day only by Sheridan's " School 
for Scandal," in which even the livery servants and 
soubrettes converse in epigram. Madame D'Arblay, 
whose novel of " Evelina " had created a greater 
sensation among the literati of her time than prob- 
ably had ever before been caused by any similar pro- 
duction, was reposing on her laurels, but failed to 
please a later generation of readers. For the copy- 
right of " Evelina " she received twenty pounds in 
1778, while for " Camilla " she was paid three thou- 
sand guineas in 1796 ; making fame by the first, and 
losing it by the latter work. Mrs. Charlotte Smith 
succeeded, commencing with a translation of " Ma- 
non L'Escaut," the heroine of which is a beautiful 
wanton, and settling down into prose fictions, occa- 
sionally indecorous, and usually dull. 

Perhaps, strictly speaking. Miss Sophia Lee should 
be credited with the authorship of the first English 
historical novel. In 1783-86 appeared " The Recess," 
in six volumes. Mary, Queen of Scots, is its heroine ; 



206 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1814 

but unlike Scott, who carefully adhered to facts 
when he introduced historical characters, Miss Lee 
boldly married Mary Stuart to the Earl of Leicester, 
and introduced two daughters as the fruit of this 
union ! 

Mrs. Inchbald, whose " Simple Story " won the 
sympathies of a large circle of readers ; Regina Maria 
Roche, whose " Children of the Abbey " still finds a 
considerable sale in this country, though it is almost 
wholly forgotten in England ; Mrs. Opie, whose " Fa- 
ther and Daughter " had the tears of the public in 
their day, and was successful when adopted for the 
stage ; William Godwin, with his realistic " Caleb 
Williams " and his romantic '' St. Leon ; " Dr. Moore, 
whose " Zeluco " suggested to Byron the character 
of " Childe Harold ; " Sidney Owenson (afterwards 
Lady Morgan), whose " Wild Irish Girl " and " Ida 
of Athens" scarcely indicated the promise which sub- 
sequently was realized in " O'Donnell " and " Flor- 
ence Macarthy ; " and above all, rational, truthful, and 
vigorous Maria Edge worth, — these belonged to Scott's 
own time, and their works might be safely read with 
pleasure and advantage. This is not a long catalogue of 
novelists ; but it will be observed, that even then, sixty 
years ago, most of the story-tellers were of the gen- 
tler sex. I have not included Jane Austen, because 
" Sense and Sensibihty," the first of her novels, was 
not published until 1811, six years after " Waverley " 
had been planned and partly written ; and have not 
forgotten Anna Maria Porter, who appeared in print 
before Sir Walter Scott, nor her sister Jane, because 
neither of them had any influence upon his taste. It is 
stated by an authority whose general correctness I 
have pleasure in acknowledging,* that " Sir Walter 



* Dr. S. Austen AUibone's Critical Dictionary of English Literature and 
British and American Authors, vol. ii. p. 1646. 



^T. 43.] MINERVA-PRESS NOVELS. 207 

Scott admitted (conversation with George IV. in the 
library of Carlton Palace) that this work — Jane Por- 
ter's ' Scottish Chiefs ' — suggested his Waverley 
novels ; " but considering that " Waverley '' was 
begun in 1805, and that " The Scottish Chiefs " first 
appeared in 1810, I am unable to believe that he 
derived any suggestion from a work then unwritten. 

Also prior to the commencement of" Waverley" was 
the dehut of Charles Robert Maturin, an Irish clergy- 
man of striking genius, with a minimum of discretion. 
His " Fatal Revenge, or the Family of Montario," 
which, with its appalling horrors, out-Radcliffed Mrs. 
Radcliffe, appeared in 1804. In a subsequent ro- 
mance, entitled " Melmoth the Wanderer," he abated 
some of these horrors, seasoning them with the naked 
indecency of Lewis's " Monk ; " and in his tragedy of 
" Bertram," produced at Drury-lane Theatre through 
Lord Byron's influence, he had originally introduced 
the Enemy of Man as one of the dramatis personce ! 

There is another phalanx of novelists who lived, 
but can scarcely be said to have flourished, early in 
the present century. Their works, from the source 
of their publication in Leadenhall Street, London, 
were known as " Minerva-press Novels." At the 
head of these was " Anne of Swansea," Mrs. Hatton, 
sister of Mrs. Siddons and John Kemble, who dealt 
largely in common-place, was very deficient in con- 
structive skill, usually extended each of her romances 
to four and even five novels, and was fond of resonant 
titles, such as " The Rock of Glotzden, or the Se- 
cret Avenger." Mr. Thomas Surr, whose " Splendid 
Misery," treating of fashionable life, with which he 
had not the slightest acquaintance, was in eager re- 
quest at all the circulating-libraries in town and coun- 
try ; and a Capt. Thomas Ashe, who carried on for 
some years the profitable but disreputable trade of 
writing novels of society upon the current scandals 



208 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1814 

of the day, and never published them if he could in- 
duce the persons whom he libelled to buy his manu- 
script. He lived by literary black-mail. The Mi- 
nerva-press novels, bad as they were, had immense 
popularity for some years. 

No wonder, then, that Walter Scott, who, having 
shown the world in " The Minstrelsy " and " The 
Lay " that he was editor and poet, and being him- 
self a novel -reader, should be utterly dissatisfied 
with the quality of the existing supply. The French 
Revolution, distinguished by its levelling principle 
and action, had ended in substituting a feudal empire 
for an effete monarchy; and, even when Napoleon 
was re-dividing Europe into kingdoms and princi- 
palities for his family and his followers, there had 
sprung up, or rather revived, a deep devotion to the 
chivalry which had done so much in the past, and 
whose traditions had ingrafted grace into history, 
and breathed reality into song. To this feeling, this 
principle, Scott had ministered in his poems ; and 
now, acknowledged head of the romantic school, he 
resolved to extend its limits beyond the ballad or 
the narrative poem, and use prose as the more 
suitable medium. He strove to delineate the past 
i- as it seemed in the eyes of men who were dubious 
of the present, and afraid of the future, — noble, 
stately, glittering, and gay, with the pulse of life 
ever beating to heroic measures. His view of feudal- 
ism, in ''The Talisman," '' Ivanhoe," and ''The Fair 
Maid of Perth," was not the caricature a few preced- 
ing authors had drawn, but a portrait, — faithful, if 
idealized. 

" Waverley," as we have seen, had been condemned 
by Erskine ; thrown by, mislaid, recovered, and depre- 
ciated by Ballantyne. Scott, having nearly completed 
his " Life and Works of Jonathan Swift" (published 
by Constable, in nineteen octavo volumes, on the 1st 



^T. 43-] THE "WAVERLEY" SECRET. 209 

of July, 1814), — a work which really Avas supple- 
mentary to his history of a particular period of Eng- 
lish literary history, — brought out his '' Waverley " 
manuscript for the third time, carefully read it, 
thought something could be made of it, and permitted 
the announcement, in "The Scots' Magazine " of Feb- 
ruary, 1814, that " ' Waverley, or 'Tis Sixty Years 
Since,' a novel, in three volumes 12mo, would be 
published in March." Already he had made some 
progress in continuing the story ; for in January he 
had shown the greater part of the first volume to Mr. 
Erskine, who at once predicted that it would prove 
the most popular of all his friend's works. It was 
determined to publish it anonymously, and unusual 
pains were taken to prevent the discovery of the 
author's name. John Ballantyne copied out all the 
manuscript. Double proof-sheets were regularly- 
printed off. One was forwarded to Scott ; and the 
alterations which it received were, by Ballantyne's 
own hand, copied upon the other proof-sheet for the 
use of the printers ; so that even the corrected proof- 
sheets of the author were never seen in the printing- 
office. While " Waverley " was passing through the 
press, Mr. Erskine read some of the proof-sheets to a 
few friends after supper; and from the enthusiastic 
praise they obtained, as well as from the way in 
which their host spoke, the party inferred that they 
were listening to the first effort of some unknown 
but very able aspirant. 

When the first volume was printed, Ballantyne 
placed it in the hands of Constable, who, not doubt- 
ing who was the author, considered the matter, and 
offered seven hundred pounds for the copyright. 
This price was so high (Miss Edgeworth up to that 
time not having realized a tenth of that sum by even 
her most successful work), that a novice would gladly 
have accepted it. Scott's reply, through Ballantyne, 

14 



210 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1814 

was, that it was too much if the novel should not 
succeed ; too little if it did. He would have taken 
a thousand pounds ; but Constable would not offer so 
much, and published the work on the terms of equal 
division of profits between himself and the author. 

The first volume was printed before tlie second 
was begun. Constable, who had become proprietor 
of tlie " Encyclopsedia Britannica," was bringing out 
a supplement to that extensive work. At his re- 
quest, Scott agreed to write three essays for it, — on 
Chivalry, the Drama, and Romance, — and completed 
two in April and May, writing that on Romance 
some time later. Constable, a liberal man, paid a 
hundred pounds for each. This episode ended, Scott 
set seriously to work on '* Waverley," and informed 
his friend Morritt that " the last two volumes were 
written in three weeks." In corroboration of this, 
Lockhart has related a personal anecdote, — how, 
happening to pass through Edinburgh in June, 1814, 
he dined with Mr. WilUam Menzies (afterwards a 
judge at the Cape of Good Hope), whose residence 
was then in George Street, situated very near to, and 
at right angles with, North Castle Street. "There 
was," he says, "• a party of very young persons, most 
of them, like Menzies and myself, destined for the 
bar of Scotland, all gay and thoughtless, enjoying 
the first flush of manhood, with little remembrance 
of the yesterday, or care of the morrow. When my 
companion's worthy father and uncle, after seeing 
two or three bottles go round, left the juveniles to 
themselves, the weather being hot, we adjourned to a 
library, which had one large window looking north- 
• wards. After carousing here for an hour or more, 
I observed that a shade had come over the aspect of 
my friend, who happened to be placed immediately 
opposite to myself, and said sometliing that intimated 
a fear of his being unwell. ' No,' said he : ' I shall 



^T. 43.] LIFE OF SWIFT. 211 

be well enough presently, if you will only let me sit 
where you are, and take my chair; for there is a 
confounded hand in sight of me here, which has 
often bothered me before, and now it won't let me 
fill my glass with a good will.' I rose to change 
places with him accordingly; and he pointed out to 
me this hand, which, like the writing on Belshazzar's 
wall, disturbed his hour of hilarity. ' Since we sat 
down,' he said, ' I have been watching it : it fasci- 
nates my eye ; it never stops. Page after page is 
finished, and thrown on that heap of manuscript : and 
still it goes on unwearied ; and so it will be till candles 
are brought in, and God knows how long after that. 
It is the same every night. I can't stand the sight 
of it when I am not at my books.' — ' Some stupid, 
dogged, engrossing clerk, probably ! ' exclaimed my- 
self, or some other giddy youth in our society. ' No, 
boys,' said our host. ' I well know what hand it is : 
'tis Walter Scott's.' This was the hand, that, in the 
evenings of three summer weeks, wrote the last two 
volumes of ' Waverley.' " 

" Waverley " was published on the 7th of July, 
1814, — only six days after the issue of the nineteen 
volumes of Swift, which Jeffre}^, partly because Con- 
stable asked him to notice it favorably in " The 
Edinburgh Review," treated in a criticism in which 
covert censure was mingled with apparent praise. The 
biographer and editor of Swift was informed that he 
had written " extremely well ; " that he had been a 
courteous critic ; that he had given a fair view of the 
political, social, and literary history of the period of 
Queen Anne ; but that he had mistaken the charac- 
ter of Swift by too favorably representing it. Jef- 
frej^ in this view of " the Dean," entirely anticipated 
Thackeray's terrible estimate of that gifted, wayward, 
unfortunate man. 

In that same summer of 1814 appeared, dated in 



212 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1814 

the preceding autumn, Scott's "Abstract of the Eyr- 
biggia-Saga," prefixed to a large quarto by Henry 
Weber (the plodding, and finally lunatic, amanuen- 
sis of Scott) and Mr. R. Jameson, entitled " Illustra- 
tions of Northern Antiquities," — another of the los- 
ing Ballantyne publications. 

These extensive publications produced a doubt, for 
a short time, as to the possibility of Walter Scott's 
having been able to find time to write " Waverley." 
A very few intimate friends he let into his secret. To 
Morritt he wrote, that he intended to maintain his 
incognito ; adding, " Jeffrey has offered to take oath 
that it is mine, and another great critic has tendered 
his affidavit ex contrari.''' In a subsequent letter to 
the same friend, he says, " As to ' Waverley,' I will 
play Sir Fretful for once, and assure you that I left 
the story to flag in the first volume on purpose : the 
second and third have rather more bustle and inter- 
est. I wished (with what success, Heaven knows) 
to avoid the ordinary error of novel-writers, whose 
first volume is usually their best. But, since it has 
served to amuse Mrs. Morritt and you usque ah initio^ 
I have no doubt you will tolerate it even unto the end. 
It may really boast to be a tolerably faithful portrait 
of Scottish manners, and has been recognized as such 
in Edinburgh. The first edition of a thousand in- 
stantly disappeared ; and the bookseller informs me 
that the second, of double the quantity, will not sup- 
ply the market for long." In a postscript he owns, 
" The hero is a sneaking piece of imbecility ; " and 
positively repeats, " I shall not own ' Waverley : ' my 
chief reason is, that it would prevent me of the pleas- 
ure of writing again." In 1829, in the general pref- 
ace to his works, he said, " My original motive for 
publishing the work anonymously was the conscious- 
ness that it was an experiment on the public taste 
which might very probably fail ; and therefore there 



iET. 43.] VOYAGE TO THE ISLANDS. 213 

was no occasion to take on myself the personal risk 
of discomfiture." As for concealing his name after 
the immense success of the work, the best reason that 
could be assigned was, that it was his humor. It kept 
him, at any rate, out of hearing some criticism and a 
great deal of compliment. 

At the same time, Walter Scott was fully aware, 
particularly as the years rolled on, that his secret 
could be no secret to those who knew him intimately. 
He was aware that Lord Byron was fully in the 
secret ; and must have smiled when he wrote to Mor- 
ritt, " David Hume, nephew of the historian, says the 
author must be of a Jacobite family and predilections, 
a yeoman cavalry-man, and a Scottish lawyer ; and 
desires me to guess in whom these happy attributes 
are united." The Ballantynes objected to the secrecy ; 
but he adhered to his purpose, and, like an accused 
person at the bar, put in a plea of " Not guilty " to 
all indictments of authorship, leaving the accusers to 
prosecute their charge, and prove it — if they could. 

Three weeks after the publication of " Waverley," 
just when the book had become an object of interest 
in Edinburgh, and before he had read any criticism 
upon it from England, Scott started on the pleasure- 
voyage from Edinburgh to Glasgow already men- 
tioned ; which, taking him round a great portion of 
Scotland, enabled him to visit the Shetland and Ork- 
ney Islands, and to revisit the Hebrides. This six- 
weeks' trip supplied him with scenery and notes, not 
only for his final poem, " The Lord of the Isles," but 
locality and materials, seven years later, for '' The 
Pirate." 

The success of " Waverley," anonymously pub- 
lished, was great. In five weeks, an impression of 
one thousand copies was disposed of; but six thousand 
went off in the first six months. 

Up to this time, his only confidants were James 



// 



214 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1814 

and John Ballantyne, his friends Morritt and Ers- 
kine, and his brother Thomas Scott, then quartered 
in Canada. To him, of whose talents he had the 
highest opinion, he wrote, " You must know there 
is also a counter-report, that you have written the 
said ' Waverley.' Send me a novel intermixing your 
exuberant and natural humor with any incidents and 
descriptions of scenery you may see, — particularly 
with characters, and traits of manners. I will give it 
all the cobbHng that is necessary: and, if you do but 
exert yourself, I have not the least doubt it will be 
worth five hundred pounds ; and, to encourage you, 
you may, when you send the manuscript, draw on 
me for one hundred pounds at fifty days' sight : so 
that your labors will, at any rate, not be quite thrown 
away. You have more fun and descriptive talent 
than most people ; and all that you want — i.e., the 
mere practice of composition — I can supply, or the 
Devil's in it. Keep this matter a dead secret, and 
look knowing when ' Waverley ' is spoken of." He 
even suggested an incident, with a ready-made 
hero, which Paymaster Scott might have used, — a 
young Edinburgh "rough," whom both had known 
in their high-school days, whom it was proposed to 
take across the Atlantic, and follow in a series of ad- 
ventures among the native Indians, the old French 
settlers, and the lumberers of Canada, — classes and 
a locality with which Thomas Scott was very famil- 
iar. But his health was bad ; he was as lazy as a 
Neapolitan ; and he never wrote a line of the pro- 
posed book. 

The authorship of " Waverley," known to nearly 
forty persons, including several ladies, was well kept 
for thirteen years, until, from the derangement of his 
publisher's affairs, it necessarily became known to 
creditors, accountants, and lawyers ; and Scott finally 
avowed it. 



^ET. 43.] " THE BLESSED BEAR." 215 

The story of " Waverley " had the merit of pre- 
senting a popular sketch of " Bonnie Prince Charlie," 
during his short occupation of Edinburgh, in the Jac- 
obite " rising " of 1745-46. There also is a graphic 
contrast between English and Scottish upper-class 
modes of life, at that period, in England and Scot- 
land, at Sir Edward Waverley's well-maintained resi- 
dence of Waverley Honor, and the Baron of Brad- 
wardine's quaint and picturesque but neglected castel- 
lated mansion of Tully Veolan. As drawn by Scott, 
Tully Veolan, like his own Abbotsford in later days, 
was a composite construction, made up of various 
peculiarities in mansions actually existing, — a gate 
from one, an avenue from another, a cincture of 
elm-trees from a third; an old-fashioned garden, a 
filled-up moat, a terraced pleasance, from others. To 
introduce the scenery of the highlands of Perthshire, 
Waverley visits Fergus Mac Ivor, the actual hero of 
the tale ; and after a hopeless and passionate love- 
suit to Flora Mac Ivor, the chieftain's sister, finally 
marries pretty Rosa Bradwardine, simply " a very 
nice little girl." The famous drinking-cup, " the 
Blessed Bear of Bradwardine," introduced at the first 
dinner at Tully Veolan, had its prototype in a silver 
beaker, also used for convivial purposes, preserved as 
an heir-loom at the Castle of Glammis, in Forfar- 
shire, the seat of the Earls of Strathmore : it is in the 
shape of a lion, — the family name of Lord Strathmore 
being Lyon. Scott of Thirlestane, in Roxburghshire, 
had a similar cup, holding a pint of wine, which each 
guest was compelled to empty at a draught before 
departure : if his name were Scott, it was doubly 
necessary to pay this "devoir." 

The execution of Fergus Mac Ivor at Carlisle Cas- 
tle is imaginary, of course. Yet, when I first visited 
that ancient and massive edifice, I Avas shown, not 
only the staircase of the turret in which Mary, Queen 



216 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1814 

of Scots, had been confined, but a cell, which, I was 
gravely assured, had been occupied by Fergus Mac 
Ivor, and also the identical spot, where, with his face 
to the Scottish hills, only eight or nine miles distant, 
he had been hanged. Yet this was in 1830, while 
Sir Walter Scott was alive, and less than sixteen 
years after the publication of "Waverley"! The 
novelist's fiction had already become a tradition, — 
almost a fact ! 

In reviewing '* Waverley," Jeffrey spoke favorably 
of it as Scott's. The criticism in " The Quarterly 
Review " was not so favorable. In general, however, 
the work was well spoken of by the reviewers, and 
soon became almost as popular in England as in Scot- 
land. From personal friends, commendations poured 
in very abundantly during Scott's sea-journey. 

" Waverle}^ " concluded with a chapter, entitled 
"A Postscript, which should have been a Preface," 
in which, after speaking of the political and social 
changes in Scotland since the last attempt of the 
Stuarts, in 1745-46, to recover the crown which their 
own weakness, folly, and obstinacy had forfeited, and 
the circumstances which, in childhood and youth, 
had interested him in the fortunes of that fallen 
dynasty, he gracefully acknowledged, that, in present- 
ing the romance of history, it had been his object to 
describe persons whom he knew, or had read of, 
" not by a caricatured and exaggerated use of the 
national dialect, but by their habits, manners, and 
feelings ; so as in some distant degree to emulate the 
admirable Irish portraits drawn by Miss Edgeworth, 
so difi'erent from ' the Teagues ' and ' dear joys,' 
who so long, with the most perfect family resem- 
blance to each other, occupied the drama and the 
novel." At this time (1814), though Scott had 
corresponded with Miss Edgeworth, to whom com- 
mon sense may be said to have supplied the place of 



^T. 43.] MISS edgeworth's letter. 217 

genius, they had never met. His compliment to her, 
therefore, in the conclusion of *' Waverley," was 
wholly impersonal. 

By his desire, James Ballantyne sent a copy of the 
novel to Miss Edgeworth on its first appearance, 
inscribed " From the Author." Mr. Lockhart says that 
the Irish lady " thanked the nameless novelist, under 
cover to Ballantyne, with the cordial generosity of 
kindred genius," and gives a copy of the answer sent 
to her by the printer. In this he expressed the grati- 
fication which her approbation of his work had given 
to the author of " Waverley," who had often said to 
him (Ballantyne), " If I could but hit Miss Edge- 
worth's wonderful power of vivifying all her persons, 
and make them live as beings in your mind, I should 
not be afraid ; " declared that he had felt that his 
success was to depend upon the characters, much 
more than on the story ; that he himself thought 
honest Bailie Macwheeble the best drawn character 
in his book, and that it certainly was the most true ; 
and that the character of Rose is less finished than 
the author had one time intended, but the characters 
of humor grew upon his liking, to the prejudice, in 
some degree, of those of a more elevated and senti- 
mental kind. " I am not authorized to say," he added, 
'' but I will not resist my impulse to say to Miss Edge- 
worth, that another novel, descriptive of more an- 
cient manners still, may be expected ere long from 
the author of ' Waverley ; ' but I request her to ob- 
serve, that I say this in strict confidence, not cer- 
tainly meaning to exclude from the knowledge of 
what will give them pleasure her respectable fam- 

iiy-" 

Miss Edgeworth's letter was not published by Lock- 
hart, because it was not found, after much search, 
among the papers of Scott or Ballantyne. It was 
my own good fortune, in 1842, to ascertain that the 



218 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1814 

original letter was in possession of an autograpli 
collector in Glasgow, who kindly permitted me to 
take a copy of it. Having become acquainted with 
Miss Edgeworth at an eaiiy age in Ireland, and hav- 
ing long been in correspondence with her, I sent her 
a copy of this Waverley letter, and received her 
assurance that it was authentic. Her words were, 
" It was my father's letter and my own (for it is a 
Joi7it letter) to Sir Walter Scott. I have, in tr ith, 
no copy of it, never keeping any letters of my o ,vn ; 
but you have what we wrote." This letter to me 
is dated '' Edgeworthtown, Sept. 16, 1842," and 
contained directions for correcting a few verbal mis- 
takes. The Waverley epistle, wholly in Miss Edge- 
worth's own writing, on several sheets of note-paper, 
is as follows : — 

Edge^orthto-vtn-, Oct. 23, 1S14. 

" Aut ScotiLS aut Diaholus.''^ 

We have this moment finished '• Waverley." It was read aloud 
to this large family; and I wish the author could have witnessed 
the impression it made — the strong hold it seized of the feelings 
both of young and old — the admiration raised by beautiful de- 
scriptions of Nature — by the new and bold delineations of char- 
acter — the perfect manner in which ever^' character is sustained, 
in ever}- change of situation, from first to last, without effort, with- 
out the affectation of making the people speak in character — the 
ingenuity with which each person introduced in the drama is 
made useful and necessary to the end — the admirable art with 
which the story is constructed, and with which the author keeps 
his own secrets, till the precise proper moment when they should 
be revealed ; whilst in the mean time, with the skill of Shak- 
SPEARE, the mind is prepared by unseen degrees for all the changes 
of feeling and fortune, so that nothing, however extraordinary, 
shocks us as improbable ; and the interest is kept up to the last 
moment. We were so possessed with the belief that the whole 
story, and ever}' character in it, was real, that we could not endure 
the occasional addresses from the author to the reader. They are 
like Fielding ; but for that reason we cannot bear them : we can- 
not bear that an author of such high powers, of such original 
genius, should, for a moment, stoop to imitation. This is the 



^T. 43.] MISS EDGEWORTH ON " WAVERLEY." 219 

only thing we dislike, these are the only passa^res we wish omitted 
in the whole Avork ; and let the unqualified manner in which I say 
this, and the very vehemence of my expressions of this disappro- 
bation, be a sure pledo;e to the author of the sincerity of all the 
admiration I feel for his genius. 

I have not yet said half we felt in reading the work. Tlie char- 
acters are not only finely drawn as separate figures, but they are 
grouped with great skill, and contrasted so artfully, and yet so 
naturally, as to produce the happiest dramatic effect, and, at the 
same time, to relieve the feelin2:s and attention in the most agree- 
able manner. The novelty of the Highland world which is dis- 
covered to our view excites curiosity and interest powerfully ; but, 
though it is all new to us, it does not embarrass, or perplex, or 
strain the attention. We never are harassed by doubts of the 
probability of any of these modes of life : though we did not 
know them, we are quite certain they did exist exactly as they are 
represented. We are sensible that there is a peculiar merit in 
the work, which is, in a great measure, lost upon us, the dialects 
of the Highlanders and Lowlanders, &c. But there is another 
and a higher merit, with which we are as much struck and as 
much delighted as any true-born Scotchman could be — the vari- 
ous gradations of Scotch feudal character, from the high-born 
chieftain and the military baron to the noble-minded lieutenant 
Evan Dhu, the robber Bean Lean, and the savage Galium Beg. 
The Pre — the Chevalier is beautifully drawn, 

" A Prince ; ay, every Inch a Prince I " 

His polished manners, his exquisite address, politeness, and gen- 
erosity interest the reader irresistibly ; and he pleases the more 
from the contrast between him and those who surround him. I 
think he is my favorite character : the Baron Bradwardine is my 
father's. He thinks it required more genius to invent, and more 
ability uniformly to sustain, this character, than any one of the 
variety of masterly characters with which the work abounds. 
There is, indeed, uncommon art in the manner in which his dig- 
nity is preserved by his courage and magnanimity, in spite of all 
his pedantry, and his ridicules, and his bear, and his boot-jack, and 
all the raillery of M'lvor. (M'lvor's unexpected bear and boot- 
jack made us laugh heartily.) 

But to return to the dear, good Baron. Though I acknowledge 
that I am not so good a judge as my father and brothers are of 
his recondite learning and his law Latin, yet I feel the humor, and 
was touched to the quick by the strokes of his generosity, gentle- 
ness, and pathos, in this old man, who, by the by, is all in good 
time worked up into a very dignified father-in-law lor the hero. 



220 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1814 



His exclamation of " Oli, my son, my son ! " and the yielding of 
the facetious character of the Baron to the natural feelino;s of the 
father, are beautiful. (Evan Dhu's fears that his father-in-law 
should die quietly in his bed made us laugh almost as much as 
the bear and the boot-jack.) 

Jinker, in the battle, pleading the cause of the mare which he 
had sold to Balmawhapple, and which had thrown him for want 
of the proper bit, is truly comic : my father says that this and 
some other passages respecting horsemanship could not have been 
written by any one who was not master both of the great and 
little horse. 

I tell you, without order, the great and little strokes of humor 
and pathos just as I recollect or am reminded of them, at this mo- 
ment, by my companions. The fact is, that we have had the vol- 
umes only during the time we could read them, and as fast as we 
could read, lent to us as a great favor by one who was happy 
enough to have secured a copy before the first and second editions 
were sold in Dublin. When we applied, not a copy could be 
had : we expected one in the course of next week ; but we resolved 
to write to the author without waiting for a second perusal. Judg- 
ing by our own feelings as authors, we guess that he would rather 
know our genuine first thoughts than wait for cool second thoughts, 
or have a regular eulogium or criticism put into the most lucid 
order, and given in the finest sentences that ever were rounded. 

Is it possible that I got thus far without having named Flora, or 
Vich Ian Vohr, the last Vich Ian VoTir? Yet our minds were 
full of them the moment before I began this letter — and, could 
you have seen the tears forced from us by their fate, you would 
have been satisfied that the pathos went to our hearts. Ian 
Vohr, from the first moment he appears till the last, is an admira- 
bly drawn and finely sustained character — new — perfectly new 
to the English reader — often entertaining — always heroic — and 
sometimes sublime. The gray spirit, the Bodach Glas, thrills us 
with horror. Us ! What effect must it have under the influence 
of the superstitions of the Highlands ? This circumstance is ad- 
mirably introduced. This superstition is a weakness . quite con- 
sistent with the strength of the character, perfectly natural after 
the disappointment oif all his hopes, in the dejection of his mind 
and the exhaustion of his bodily strength'. 

Flora we could wish was never called Miss Mac Ivor, because in 
this country there are tribes of vulgar Miss Macs, and this asso- 
ciation is unfavorable to the sublime and beautiful of your Flora, 
— she is a true heroine : her first appearance seized upon the 
mind, and enchanted us so completely, that we were certain she 
was to be your heroine, and the wife of your hero ; but with what 
unaccountable art you gradually convince the reader that she was 



^T. 43.] MISS edgeworth's letter. 221 

not, as she said of herself, capable of making Waverley happy ! 
Leaving her in full possession of our admiration, you first made us 
pity, then love, and at last s^ive our undivided affection to Rose 
Bradwardine, — sweet Scotch Rose ! The last scene between Flora 
and Waverley is highly pathetic : my brother wishes that bridal 
garments were shroud; he thinks it would be stronger, and more 
natural — because, when the heart is touched, we seldom use meta- 
phor, or quaint alliteration — bride favors — bridal garment. 

There is one thing more we could wish changed or omitted in 
Flora's character : I have not the volume, and therefore cannot 
refer to the page ; but I recollect in the first visit to Flora, when 
she is to sing certain verses, there is a walk, in which the de- 
scription of the place is beautiful, but too long ; and we did not 
like the preparation for a scene, and the appearance of Flora and 
her harp. It was too like a common heroine — she should be far 
above all stage-effect or novelist's trick. 

These are, without reserve, the only faults we found, or can find, 
in this work of genius. We should scarcely have thought them 
worth mentioning, except to give you proof positive that we are 
not flatterers. Believe me, I have not, nor can I convey to you 
the full idea of the pleasure, the delight, we have had in reading 
" Waverley " — nor of the feeling of sorrow with which we came to 
the end of the history of persons, whose real presence had so filled 
our minds. We felt that we must return to the flat realities of 
life, and that our stimulus was gone. We were little disposed to 
read the postscript which should have been a preface. " Well, let 
us hear it," said my father — and Mrs. E. read on. 

O my dear sir, how much pleasure would my father, my whole 
family, as well as myself, have lost, if we had not read to the last 
page ! And the pleasure came upon us so unexpectedly ! We had 
been so completely absorbed, that every thought of ourselves, or 
our own authorship, was far, far away. 

Thank you for the honor you have done us, and for the great 
pleasure you have given us, — great in proportion to the opinion 
we had formed of the work we had just perused ; and believe 
me, every opinion I have in this letter expressed was formed be- 
fore any individual in the flimily had peeped to the end of the 
book, or knew how much he owed you. 

Your obliged and grateful 

Maria Edgewortti. 

The allusion, in the above letter, to the "large 
family " at Eclgeworthstown, may be explained by 
the fact that Mr. Eclgeworth had been four times 
married, and had children by each wife, nearly all 
of whom remained under the paternal roof. 



222 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i8i4 

The objection that the occasional addresses from 
the author to the reader were too hke Fielding had 
also been made by Henry Mackenzie, who said, " You 
should never be forced to recollect, maugre all its 
internal evidence to the contrary, that such a work 
is but a work of fiction, and all its fine creations but 
of air." On the other hand, Bulwer and Thackeray 
have often suspended their story to gossip with the 
reader about it. Dickens never did. 

At the time (late in 1842) when I gave Mr. Lock- 
hart a copy of Miss Edge worth's letter, the publica- 
tion of the second edition of the '' Life of Scott " had 
been completed; and he stated his regret tome at 
not having been able to insert it in its proper place. 
Of its interest as a contribution to the literary his- 
tory of his time he expressed himself warmly, vlvd 
voce as well as by letter. 

Among other literary ladies of note, who, about 
this time, passed judgment upon " Waverley," was 
Miss Mary Russell Mitford, who in October, 1814, 
wrote thus : " Have you read Walter Scott's ' Wa- 
verley ' ? I have ventured to say ' Walter Scott's ; ' 
though I hear he denies it, just as a young girl de- 
nies the imputation of a lover : but, if there be any 
belief in internal evidence, it must be his. It is his 
by a thousand indications, — by all the faults and all 
the beauties ; by the unspeakable and unrecollect- 
able names ; by the vile pedantry of French, Latin, 
Gaelic, and Italian ; by the hanging the clever hero, 
and marrying the stupid one ; by the praise (well 
deserved, certainly, — for when had Scotland ever 
such a friend ? — but thrust in by his head and shoul- 
ders) of the late Lord Melville ; by the sweet lyric 
poetry ; by the perfect costume ; by the excellent 
keeping of the picture ; by the liveliness and gayety 
of the dialogues ; and last, not least, by the entire 
and admirable individuality of every character in the 



^CT. 43-] MISS MITFORD's CRITICISM. 223 

book, high ns well as low, — the life and soul which 
animates them all with a distinct existence, and 
brings them before our eyes like the portraits of 
Fielding and Cervantes." The Baron of Bradwar- 
dine was her favorite character : '' And yet his is, per- 
haps, the least original of any ; a mere compound, 
but a most entertaining compound, of Shakspeare's 
Fluellen and Smollett's Lismahago." Assuredly, as 
far as the latter was concerned, only personal resem- 
blance was involved. Some Aveeks later, Miss Mit- 
ford, again writing to Sir William Elford, said that 
she remained convinced that Scott had some share in 
" Waverley ; " adding, '' I know not the evidence that 
could induce me to believe that Dugald Stewart had 
any thing to do with it. He ! — the triptologist, as 
Horace Walpole says, — he ! the style-monger, whose 
periods, with their nice balancing and their elaborate 
finish, always remind one of a worthy personage in 
blue and silver, ycleped, I believe, the Flemish Her- 
cules, whom I have seen balancing a ladder on his 
finger, wdth three children on one end, and two on 
the other, — he write that half-French, half-English, 
half-Scotch, half-Gaelic, half-Latin, half-Italian, — 
that hotch-potch of languages, — that movable Babel 
called ' Waverley ' ! My dear Sir William, there is 
not in the whole book one single page of pure and 
vernacular English ; there is not one single period of 
which you do not forget the sense in admiration of 
the sound." There were three cogent circumstances 
to confirm the doubt thus expressed, — first, Dugald 
Stewart, a life-long adept in metaphysics, logic, poli- 
tics, and political economy, had never taken very 
kindly to literature; next, when ''Waverley" was 
published, he was over sixty years of age ; and, 
lastly, several " Waverley " novels appeared after his 
death. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

Abbotsford. — " Guy Mannering." — Origin of the Story. — Annesley Peerage.— 
Joseph Train —The Cavern Scene. —Visit to London. — The Prince Re- 
gent.— Carlton-House Hospitality. — Checkmated for Once. — lutimaey with 
Byron, — Dagger and Vase. — Stolen Autograph. 

1814 — 1815. 

ABBOTSFORD, when Scott returned from the 
isles m September, 1814, had been augmented 
in acres by the purchase of a then desolate and naked 
mountain-mere, which, in the language of a famous 
landscape-gardener of the last century, had " great 
capabilities " (hence the sobriquet of " Capability 
Brown "), and gave him a little lake at one end of 
his estates, as a contrast to the silvery Tweed at the 
other. A fancy price was paid for it ; landowners in 
that quarter being shrewd enough to see that " the 
Shirra" was anxious to obtahi territory. He favored 
planting on land not decidedly arable, and had in- 
dulged in this judicious taste from the first day of his 
becoming master of Abbotsford. Within three years 
he had the gratification of reporting to one of his 
friends, whose woods had been the growth of centu- 
ries, '' I cannot walk, nor even sit, under my own 
trees; but I can rest me beneath their shadow: " and 
wrote to another, " I am anxiously measuring my 
oak-trees (which are to be) with a one-foot rule." 
The dwelling at Abbotsford was advancing. In place 
of the miserable farm-house was arising what Scott, 
writing to Terry, calls " the whimsical, gay old caljin 

224 



^T. 43.] JOSEPH TRAIN. 225 

that we had chalked out. I have made the old farm- 
house my corjjs de logis, with some outlying places 
for kitchen, laundry, and two spare bedrooms, which 
will run along the east wall of the farm-court, not 
without some picturesque effect. A perforated cross, 
the spoils of the old kirk of Galashiels, decorates the 
advanced door, and looks verj' well. This sly little 
bit of sacrilege has given our spare room the name 
of ' the Chapel.' " In Abbotsford, in November and 
December, 1814, were written the three closing can- 
tos of " The Lord of the Isles," the publication and 
reception of which, in January, 1815, have already 
been mentioned. The novel of " Guy Mannering " 
was begun and finished during the Christmas holi- 
days. Inasmuch as the events of this tale were 
supposed to have occurred in the closing 3^ears of 
George II. and the first decade of George III., this 
could not have been the new novel, " descriptive of 
more ancient manners still," which James Ballantyne 
informed Miss Edgeworth might be expected ere long 
from the author of " Waverley." 

Some months before, having called at Ballantyne's 
printing-office in the Canongate, Scott took up the 
proof-sheet of a volume of " Poems, with Notes, illus- 
trative of Traditions in Galloway and Ayrshire ; 
by Joseph Train, Supervisor of Excise at Newton 
Stewart." The question, '' Is this another poetical 
exciseman?" naturally arose; and Scott, struck with 
a ballad about a witch of Cormick, whose spells had 
caused the destruction of one of the scattered vessels 
of the Spanish Armada off the Mull of Cantyne, wrote 
to the author, suggesting an improved rhyme in one 
of the stanzas, and begging to be considered a sub- 
scriber for ten copies. Mr. Train gratefully acknowl- 
edged this kindness; and the book, having reached 
Scott as he was about to begin his yacht-tour, was 
read by him on his voj^age. On his return he wrote 

15 



226 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1814 

to Mr. Train, expressing the gratification he had re- 
ceived from several of his metrical pieces, but still 
more from his notes ; and requesting him, as he seemed 
to be enthusiastic about traditions and legends, to 
communicate any matters of that order connected 
with Galloway which he might not himself think of 
turning to account : " For," said Scott, " nothing in- 
terests me so much as local anecdotes ; and, as the 
applications for charity usually conclude, the smallest 
donation will be thankfully accepted." 

Joseph Train was Scott's junior by eight years. 
His father, an Ayrshire farmer, apprenticed him to 
the weaving-business ; but the lad — as happens 
often er in Scotland, I believe, than in any other part 
of the world — applied all his leisure hours to read- 
ing and mental improvement. At the age of twenty 
he was drafted into a militia regiment, in which he 
served until the Peace of Amiens in 1802. While on 
duty at Inverness, he commissioned a bookseller there 
to purchase for him a copy of Dr. Currie's " Life and 
Works of Robert Burns," then sold at a guinea and 
a half. The pay of a British militia-man at that 
time being only twenty-five cents a day (and no 
rations), it showed great self-denial on Train's part to 
have saved four dollars to buy such a book. The cir- 
cumstance came to the knowledge of Sir David Hunter 
Blair, also an Ayrshireman, colonel of the regiment, 
who purchased the work, had it elegantly bound, 
and presented it to the " full private " who had thus 
exhibited literary taste. Nor did he rest here, but, 
when the regiment was disembodied, procured Train 
a good commercial agency at Ayr, — that royal burgh, 
whose '' twa brigs " figure so famously in the poem 
of Burns, and are near the cottage on Doon-side 
where the peasant-poet was born, adjacent to *' Allo- 
way's auld haunted kirk," within whose ruins Tam 
O'Shanter did, or did not, see the grotesque demon- 



^^- 43-1 PREDICTION. 227 

revelry, described in a manner at once ludicrous and 
awe-inspiring. 

The influence of his kind patron caused Train to be 
com.aissioned as an excise-officer ; and he was serving 
in this capacity, after two promotions for steady con- 
duct (in the burgh of Newton Stewart, in the district 
of Galloway), when he came under the notice of 
Walter Scott, then the most distinguished of Scottish 
authors. He had been collecting materials for a his- 
tory of Galloway in conjunction with a friend ; and 
they had obtained a large and excellent variety of 
materials, considerably assisted by the local clergy 
and schoolmasters : but, on receipt of Scott's letter, 
Train resolved to renounce all idea of authorship for 
himself, and thenceforth assist him. In the ballad 
which Scott read, " Turnberry's kine " were men- 
tioned ; and he asked Train to procure for him some ac- 
count of the then condition of Turnberry Castle, which 
Robert the Bruce had surprised (as related in '' The 
Lord of the Isles ") on the commencement of the bril- 
liant part of his career. Train, though he had known 
that part of Ayrshire in his youth, distrusted his mem- 
ory, and visited the ruined structure on the coast, 
supplying Scott with abundant materials, speedily 
worked up into the fifth canto of the poem, and 
ingrafted upon the notes, with due and grateful 
acknowledgment. 

After this,, Mr. Train sent to Scott a collection of 
anecdotes about the gypsies in Gallowaj^ with a local 
story of an astrologer's calling at a farm-house at the 
moment when the gude wife was in travail, and pre- 
dicting the future fortune of the child. This, which 
was told during Train's first visit to Abbotsford (he 
was a frequent and welcome guest there and at Ed- 
inburgh ever after), reminded Scott of a similar 
story told him in his youth by an old Highland ser- 
vant of his father. After Scott's death, a rude Dur- 



228 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1814 

ham ballad was recovered by Mr. Train, which Scott 
had most probably heard or read in his youth. This 
is entitled '' The Durham Garland," the prediction 
of which is, that the child should be hanged at a cer- 
tain time ; an act not accomplished, inasmuch as he 
is only put into matrimonial chains, while two wrong- 
doers, guilty of a robbery they had charged him with, 

" Confessed their faults immediately, 
And for it died deservedly." 

There has been assigned, as the origin of one part 
of " Guy Mannering," — the abduction of the young 
heir, and his detention in foreign parts for many years, 
— the singular history of James Annesley, who, in 
1749, claimed the titles and estates of the Irish Earls 
of Anglesey. He claimed to be only son of Lord Al- 
tham, heir to the Earldom of Anglesey ; that, his 
father and mother having separated, he was brought 
up on charity and in utter poverty ; that, when 
twelve years old, he attended his father's funeral, 
himself in rags ; that his uncle, Capt. Annesley, 
took the barony and estates of Altham as next heir, 
wholly ignoring this unfortunate child, whom he had 
kidnapped and conveyed to America, where he labored 
for thirteen years as a plantation-slave ; that, on the 
death of the Earl of Anglesey, his uncle quietly suc- 
ceeded to his titles and large estates ; that, at the 
age of twenty-five, he escaped from America, and suc- 
ceeded in reaching Jamaica, where he entered a man- 
of-war as a volunteer ; that Admiral Vernon, who 
heard his story, believed it, relieved him, and wrote in 
his favor to the Duke of Newcastle, then prime-min- 
ister of England; that his uncle unscrupulously 
used every means to retain the peerage and property 
he had usurped, and finally, on being recognized by 
old servants of the family and tenants, endeavored 



^T. 43.] THE ANNESLEY PEERAGE. 229 

to induce him to accept a compromise, and reside in 
France ; that in a trial which took place in Dublin 
in November, 1743, this James Annesley obtained a 
verdict, which his uncle endeavored to set aside by 
a writ of error ; and that, before another trial could 
take place, the claimant died, leaving his uncle mas- 
ter of the field. This case was stated with some par- 
ticularity in Smollett's " Peregrine Pickle," and Scott 
might have read it there or in the Law Reports. A 
saying of one of the witnesses, " He is the right heir, 
if right might take place," may have supplied a hint 
for " Our right makes our might," the motto of Ber- 
tram of EUang^owen. 

Let me be allowed here to interrupt, or rather 
to illustrate, this story of Walter Scott's life by 
stating, that, during the following seventeen years, 
Joseph Train devoted himself to the collection of 
legendary tales and fragments, which he duly trans- 
mitted to Scott. These were made use of, not only 
in '* Guy Mannering," but also in " Old Mortalitv," 
'' The Heart of Mid-Lothian," " Peveril of the Peak," 
" Quentin Durward," " Redgauntlet," '' The Chroni- 
cles of the Canongate," ^' The Fair Maid of Perth," 
and " The Surgeon's Daughter." He also supplied 
the materials on which Scott founded two of his 
dramas, — " The Doom of Devorgoil," and "Macduff's 
Cross." Mr. Train also communicated to what Scott 
called the ''Opus Magnum" (or illustrated five-shil- 
ling edition of his works) many additional particulars 
of a number of the characters in the Waverley novels, 
the prototypes of whom he had introduced to Scott. 
In 1820, through his friend's kind offices, he was ad- 
vanced to the rank of supervisor At an advanced 
age he published a history of the Isle of Man, retired 
from office on a pension after twenty-eight years' 
service, and died in 1852. A few months after his 
death, his widow was allotted a pension of fifty 



230 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1815 

pounds a year " in consequence of Joseph Train's 
personal services to literature, and the valuable aid 
derived by the late Sir Walter Scott from his anti- 
quarian and literary researches prosecuted under Sir 
Walter's direction." 

Considering the long and efficient assistance given 
to Sir Walter Scott by such devoted and intelligent 
friends as James Ballantyne, William Laidlaw, and 
Joseph Train, I have devoted some extra space to 
characterize their worth. A man may be safely 
judged by his friends. 

Scott went to Abbotsford, in Christmas, 1814, " to 
refresh the machine," as he informed Constable. 
The result was a new novel, founded on the subject 
which Train's suggestive tradition had brought to 
mind. Erskine and Ballantyne, having read two 
volumes of " Guy Mannering, or the Astrologer," 
thought it much more interesting than " Waverley." 
In January, 1815, '' The Lord of the Isles " appeared ; 
Scott telling Morritt, " It closes my poetic labors 
upon an extended scale; but I dare say I shall 
always be dabbling in rhyme until the solve senes- 
centein.''^ 

On the 24th of February, exactly five weeks after 
the poem, "Guy Mannering" appeared. Probably 
the design was to keep up the new mystery of the 
authorship, as most readers would question the prob- 
ability of even his genius being able so rapidly to 
have simultaneously produced two such works. 

" Guy Mannering," as its author said, " was the 
work of six weeks at Christmas." It was hurried 
through to obtain money necessary for the repay- 
ment of a sum borrowed to carry on the unfortunate 
publishing-house of John Ballantyne & Co. 

The public opinion upon '' Guy Mannering," a sim- 
ple domestic story, without a single historical inci- 
dent, character, or allusion, was most favorable. 



^T. 44.] " GUY MANNERING." 231 

There is an anecdote, connected witli this time, too 
good to be omitted. Its hero is Lord Hermand, then 
one of the judges of the Court of Session in Edin- 
burgh. When " Guy Mannering" came out, he was 
so much delighted with the picture of the life of the 
old Scottish lawyers in it, that he could talk of noth- 
ing else but Pleydell, Dandie, and the High Jinks, 
for many weeks. He usually carried one volume of 
the book about with him : and one morning, on the 
bench, his love for it so completely got the better of 
him, that he lugged in the subject, head and shoulders, 
into the midst of a speech about some dry pomt of 
law ; nay, getting warmer every moment he spoke 
of it, he at last fairly plucked the volume from his 
pocket, and, in spite of all the remonstrances of all 
his brethren, insisted upon reading aloud the whole 
passage for their edification. He Avent through the 
task with his wonted vivacity ; gave great effect to 
every speech, and most appropriate expression to 
every joke ; and, when it was done, I supjoose the 
court would have no difficulty in confessing that they 
had very seldom been so well entertained. During 
the whole scene, Walter Scott was present, — seated 
indeed, in his official capacit}^ close under the judges. 

The author had simply intimated to Morritt that it 
was " a tale of private life, and only varied by the 
perilous exploits of smugglers and excisemen." Guy 
Mannering, that model of a gentleman, courteous 
even in his reserve ; the Laird of Ellangowan, a 
doomed man from the first ; Sir Robert Hazlewood, 
an incarnation of full-blown family dignity ; Gilbert 
Glossin and Dirk Hatteraick, villains in the grain ; 
and honest INIac Morlan, the sheriff substitute, — 
stand out in decided individuality. Lucy Bertram 
and Julia Mannering are young ladies of the period. 
But honest Dandie Dinmont, his wife and family, at 
Charlie's-Hope, including the children and dogs; 



232 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1815 

Dominie Sampson, so " pro-cli-gi-ous " in his attain- 
ments, so attached to the Bertrams, and so absent 
in his manners ; Mr. Paulus Pleydell, so acute in 
legal matters, and so utterly unlawyer-like while en- 
joying himself at High Jinks, — these were acknowl- 
edged to be great creations, acting and speaking at 
the mere volition of the author ; just as, had they 
lived, might have been expected. Above them all, 
reaching to the very sublimity of tragic passion and 
affection, stands Meg Merrilies, — " no better than she 
should be " I may be reminded, but reaching to a 
sublimity higher even than that of Lady Macbeth, 
The original of her character was Jean Gordon of 
Yetholm, close to the English border, a regular gipsy 
queen, who eminently possessed the savage virtue of 
fidelity, which was Meg Merrilies' redeeming virtue. 
In his final Introduction and Notes, the origin 
of some of the incidents and characters of " Guy 
Mannering " were stated by the author ; who 
omitted, however, to mention the circumstance, 
well known to him, which suggested the pictorial 
effect in the smugglers' cavern, when, Meg Mer- 
rilies dropping a firebrand upon a heap of flax 
previously steeped in some spirituous liquid, " it 
instantly caught fire, rising in a vivid pyramid of the 
most brillian flight up to the very top of the vault," 
exhibiting Dirk Hatteraick to Bertram and Din- 
mont. The dramatic representation of this scene 
is startling. Scott related to Allan Cunningham, 
in 1821, the incident which most probably had 
suggested this melodramatic effect. He had been 
speaking of Matthew Boulton, the great steam- 
engine manufacturer, partner of James Watt, at 
Soho, near Birmingham. " I like Boulton," he said : 
"he is a brave man; and who can dislike the 
brave? He showed this on a remarkable occasion. 
He had engaged to coin, for some foreign prince, a 



^T. 44.] ROBBERY AT SOHO. 233 

large quantity of gold. This was found out by some 
desperadoes, who resolved to rob the premises, and, 
as a preliminary step, tried to bribe the porter. The 
porter was an honest fellow. He told Boulton that he 
was offered a hundred pounds to be blind and deaf 
next night. ' Take the money,' was the answer, 
' and I shall protect the place.' Midnight came : 
the gates opened as if by magic ; the interior doors, 
secured with patent locks, opened, as if of their 
own accord ; and three men, with dark-lanterns, 
entered, and went straight to the gold. Boulton 
had prepared some flax steeped in turpentine : he 
dropped fire upon it. A sudden light filled all the 
place ; and, with his assistants, he rushed forward 
on the robbers. The leader saw in a moment he was 
betrayed, turned on the porter, and, shooting him 
dead, burst through all obstruction, and, with an in- 
got of gold in his hand, scaled the wall, and escaped." 

Mr. J. P. Muirhead, biographer of Watt, says, that 
" on Christmas Eve, 1800, a great robbery was at- 
tempted at Mr. Boulton's silver-plate manufactory, — 
a building which adjoined the engine-yards and work- 
shops, and was at no great distance from his mansion- 
house." The facts as related by Scott were accurate, 
except Mr. Muirhead says that the porter or watch- 
man — shot through the neck, and not shot dead — 
" recovered, and lived long afterwards on a pension, 
which was the reward of his fidelity to his employer." 
Thus poetical justice was rendered ! Four of the 
thieves were taken. The fifth escaped, broke his 
arm, was otherwise badly wounded and bleeding 
from his fall, and was apprehended four or five 
months afterwards. 

Four lines from " The Lay of the Last Minstrel " 
were quoted as a motto to " Guy Mannering," to en- 
courage the idea that the poem and the novel were 
by different authors ; but this deceived few. 



234 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1815 

In the summer of 1814, when the allied sovereigns 
of Europe, accompanied by some of their leading 
ministers and soldiers, paid a visit to England, Scott, 
literally writing against time (producing two vol- 
umes of " Waverley " in three weeks), was unable 
to go to London. Early in the following spring, 
when " Guy Mannering " was an assured success, he 
informed Joanna Baillie that she might expect to see 
him soon. She answered, " Thank Heaven, you are 
coming at last ! Make up your mind to be stared at 
only a little less than the Czar of Muscovy, or old 
Bliicher." His last visit to London had been in 1809, 
after the publication of " Marmion," and before he 
had commenced " The Lady of the Lake." He was 
prepared, of course, to be lionized by the literary and 
fashionable society of the metropolis ; but looked for- 
ward with more than ordinary interest to becoming 
personally acquainted with Lord Byron and the 
Prince Regent. 

The Prince of Wales, who subsequently reigned 
(1820-30) as George IV., had allied himself in his 
youth to the liberal party, of which Charles James 
Fox was leader. He was more devoted to pleasure, 
however, than to politics ; and, indeed, had paid little 
attention to the latter. Towards the close of the 
last century, he figured, in the words of Byron, who 
bitterly satirized him as a ruler, as 

" A prince, the prince of princes at the time, 
With fascination in his very bow, 

And full of promise as the spring of prime ; 
Though royalty was written on his brow : 

He had then the grace too, rare in every clime, 
Of being, without alloy of fop or beau, 
A finished gentleman from top to toe." 

As an attache to, rather than a patron of. Fox, 
whose politics were heartily detested by Scott, always 



iCT. 44.] THE PRINCE REGENT. 235 

a rank Tory, the Prince of Wales had been regarded 
by him with little favor, and less affection. The 
death of Fox, in the autumn of 1806, tended to sever 
the Prince from the liberal party. Early in 1811, 
when George III. was incapacitated by insanity, the 
British Parliament had to decide in whose name the 
government of the realm should be carried on. On a 
!c>imilar emergency, in 1789, it was conceded that the 
Prince, as heir-apparent, was the most suitable per- 
son de jure ; but the recovery of his father at that 
time had rendered any such appointment Avholly un- 
necessary. In 1811, there was no hope of the old 
king's recovery ; and a regency was instituted, which, 
as Byron said, rendered the Prince, '' in all but name, 
a king." By this time, approaching the mature age 
of fifty, and being almost sated with enjoyment, the 
Prince Regent had, at any rate, ceased to offend pro- 
priety by that open exhibition of immorality which 
had made his name a by- word for scorn and re- 
proach in youth. On assuming the reins of govern- 
ment, he had endeavored to engage his old political 
friends — Lords Grey, Grenville, and Moira — to 
assist him by becoming members of his cabinet : but 
these leaders, jealous of him and of each other, at- 
tempted to obtain terms which would make them his 
masters ; * and the Prince, to their surprise, declared 
that the ministry, then decidedly Tory, should con- 
tinue in office. The result was the continuance of 



* Sheridan, Avho was the Prince's friend and scribe at this crisis, thus 
keenly satirized this attempt: — 

AN ADDRESS TO THE PRINCE, 1811. 

" In all humility, we crave 
Our Recent may become our slave; 
And, being so, we trust that He 
Will thank us for our loyalty. 
Then, if he'll help us to pull down 
His father's dignity and crown, 
We'll make him, in some time to come, 
The greatest Prince in Christendom." 



236 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1815 

the war with Napoleon, which the liberal party had 
always opposed. About the same time, the Regent 
refused the offer of an increased income from Parlia- 
ment, on the novel ground, for one of the royal fam- 
ily, that the people were already very heavily taxed ; 
and this self-denial, at once unexpected and prudent, 
obtained him a large increase of public esteem. To 
such a Tory of Tories as Walter Scott, the change 
in the Prince's politics was very acceptable. This 
was well understood ; and when the laureateship 
was offered to Scott, by the Regent's personal desire, 
an intimation was made, that, when the poet next 
visited London, he would be warmly received at Carl- 
ton House, the royal residence at that time. " Let 
me know," the Prince said to Mr. Croker, Secretary 
of the Admiralty, " when Scott comes to town, and I'll 
get up a snug little dinner that will suit him." 

Accordingly, after he had been presented and 
very graciously received at the levee^ the " snug little 
dinner " was given to him. The party included the 
Duke of York (the Regent's next brother) ; three or 
four Scotch peers, the poet's old friends ; Mr. Croker, 
a witty and eloquent Irishman, who had rendered 
himself useful, if not necessary, to royalty ; and one 
or two others. " The Prince and Scott," says Mr. 
Croker, " were the two most brilliant story-tellers, 
in their several ways, that I have ever happened to 
meet. They were both aware of their forte ^ and 
both exerted themselves that evening with delight- 
ful effect. On going home, I really could not decide 
which of them had shone the most. The Regent was 
enchanted with Scott, as Scott with him ; and, on all 
his subsequent visits to London, he was a frequent 
guest at the royal table." The Prfnce was particu- 
larly delighted with the poet's anecdotes of the old 
Scotch judges and lawyers, which his Royal Highness 
sometimes capped by ludicrous traits of certain er- 



^T. 44.] AUTHORSHIP OF " WAVERLEY." 237 

mined sages of his own acquaintance. Mr. LocMiart 
related, in the first edition of the " Life," that 
Scott told how a brutal judge, who on circuit 
usually played chess with a gentleman of good for- 
tune near one of the assize towns, had, on one occa- 
sion, to leave the game unfinished ; how, on the 
next circuit, the judge was not the guest, as before, 
of his fiiend, who, indeed, was tried and convicted 
on a capital charge ; and how the judge, having 
passed sentence of death with the usual grave solem- 
nities, then, dismounting his formidable beaver, gave 
a familiar nod to his unfortunate acquaintance, and 
said to him, in a sort of chuckling whisper, " And 
now, Donald, my man, I think I've checkmated you 
for ance." 

Mr. Lockhart's narrative continues in these words : 
" Towards midnight, the Prince called for ' a bumper, 
with all the honors, to the author of " Waverley," ' 
and looked significantly, as he was charging his own 
glass, to Scott. Scott seemed somewhat puzzled for 
a moment, but instantly recovering himself, and fill- 
ing his glass to the brim, said, 'Your Royal Highness 
looks as if you thought I had some claim to the 
honors of this toast. I have no such pretensions, 
but shall take good care that the real Simon Pure 
hears of the high compliment that has now been paid 
him.' He then drank off his claret, and joined with 
a stentorian voice in the cheering, which the Prince 
himself timed. But, before the company could re- 
sume their seats, his Royal Highness exclaimed, ' An- 
other of the same, if you please, to the author of 
" Marmion ; " and now, Walter, my man, I have 
checkmated you for ance.'^ The second bumper was 
followed by cheers still more prolonged ; and Scott 
then rose and returned thanks in a short address, 
which struck Lord Chief Commissioner Adams as 
' alike grave and graceful.' " 



238 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1815 

In a subsequent edition of the " Life," this story — 
which is good enough to be true — is printed, with a 
note to the effect that the Prince Regent did not apply 
it as above reported ; and that there was reason to 
believe, from the report of two gentlemen who were 
present, " that a scene at Dalkeith, in 1822, may 
have been unconsciously blended with a gentler re- 
hearsal of Carlton House in 1815." On Scott's return 
to Edinburgh, he said, in reply to the question, what 
opinion he had formed of the Regent's talents, " He 
was the first gentleman he had seen ; certainly the 
first English gentleman of liis day : there was some- 
thing about him, which, independently of the prestige^ 
the ' divinity,' which hedges a king, marked him as 
standing entirely by himself; but as to his abilities, 
spoken of as distinct from his charming manners, how 
could any one form a fair judgment of that man who 
introduced whatever subject he chose, discussed it 
just as long as he chose, and dismissed it when he 
chose ? " Ballautyne asked him whether it was true 
that the Regent had questioned him as to the author- 
ship of " Waverley," and had received a distinct and 
solemn denial. With a look of wild surprise, he said, 
" What answer I might have made to such a ques- 
tion, put to me by my Sovereign, perhaps I do not, or 
rather perhaps I do, know ; but I was never put to 
the test. He is far too well-bred a man ever to put so 
ill-bred a question." At the same time, few can 
doubt, had the Prince Regent privately spoken to 
him on the subject, he would have been plainly and 
truthfully answered. 

Lord Brougham states in his Autobiography, that 
in 1820, about the time of the trial of Queen Caro- 
line (in which the principal witness against her, an 
Italian spy, answered to most questions from her 
counsel, that he did not recollect), he met the Duke 
of Clarence and Sir Walter Scott in a room attached 



^T. 44-] LORD BYRON. 239 

to the House of Lords. The duke, afterwards Wil- 
liam IV., asked some question about the authorship 
of the Waverley novels ; and Scott said, " Sir, I must 
give you the favorite answer of the day, — ' Non mi 
ricordo.' " 

There was another smaller and gayer dinner-party 
at Carlton House ere Scott quitted London. The 
Prince, who performed well on the violoncello, and is 
said by one of his biographers to have " also sang 
with considerable taste, often displaying his vocal 
powers in glee, &c., at his own parties, both before 
and after his accession," sang capital songs, and, 
before his guest returned to Edinburgh, sent him a 
gold snuff-box set in brilliants, with a medallion of 
the donor's head on the lid, as a testimony of his 
high opinion of the poet's genius and merit. Even 
at the first dinner, the Prince, as was his custom with 
those whom he most delighted to honor, uniformly 
addressed Scott by his Christian name, " Walter." 

Byron and Scott had become acquainted, by cor- 
respondence, before the visit of the latter to London 
in 1815. The sentiments of the elder for the younger 
poet were those of affection and admiration. " James," 
he said to Ballantyne, '^ Byron hits the mark where I 
don't even pretend to fledge my arrow." Byron, we 
know, had adopted the metre which Scott (who had 
been preceded by Coleridge in its employment) had 
used in his principal poems ; but, besides this popular 
manner, the poetry of Byron was thoughtful, passion- 
ate, self-inquisitive, and dramatic, besides being wild, 
tender, or pathetic, at will. During Scott's stay in 
London, he was personally introduced to Byron, fre- 
quently met him in literary and fashionable society, 
and conversed with him for an hour or two almost 
daily in the drawing-room of Mr. ^lurray the pub- 
lisher, who was the friend of both. In Moore's " Life 
of Byron " appeared Scott's recollections of this inter- 



240 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1815. 

course of two months. He considered, that, with all 
his professions of liberalism, the wayward " Childe," 
proud of his rank and ancient family, was " a patri- 
cian at heart." He probably was as much a liberal 
as Scott himself was a Jacobite. They exchanged 
gifts ; Byron receiving from Scott a beautiful dag- 
ger, mounted in gold, which had been the property 
of the redoubted Elfi Bey, and presenting him with 
a large sepulchral vase of silver, full of dead men's' 
bones, found, as an inscription on the vase declares, 
" in certain ancient sepulchres within the long walls 
of Athens, in the month of February, 1811." This 
vase is now at Abbotsford. Scott said, ^' There was 
a letter with this vase, more valuable to me than the 
gift itself, from the Idndness with which the donor 
expressed himself towards me. I left it naturally in 
the urn with the bones ; but it is now missing. As 
the theft was not of a nature to be practised by a 
mere domestic, I am compelled to suspect the inhos- 
pitality of some individual of higher station, most gra- 
tuitously exercised certainly ; since, after what I have 
here said, no one will probably choose to boast of pos- 
sessing this literary curiosity." 



CHAPTER XV. 

Anti-Bonapartism. — Visit to "Waterloo. — Paris and London. — Introduced to 
Wellington. — Farewell to Byron. — " The Field of Waterloo." — Pennon of 
Bellendon. — " The Antiquary." — Miss Wardour's Peril. — Pharos Loquitur 
— "Black Dwarf" and "Old Mortality." — Jedediah Cleishbothara of 
Gandercleugh. — Claverhouse. — The Ermine in View. — Expansion of Ab- 
botsford. — The Handsel, — Huntley Burn. 

1815 1817. 

INTERESTED as Walter Scott had always been 
in the opposition which England had offered with 
great persistency to the ambition and aggression of 
Napoleon Bonaparte, he was too much of a partisan 
to doubt the propriety and policy of going to war 
with France, after the execution of Louis XIV. and 
Marie Antoinette, simply to assert the superiority 
of the monarchical over the republican principle. 
This, which was William Pitt's doing, prepared the 
way for the establishment of an imperial instead 
of a republican government in France, and led to the 
supremacy of that able soldier of fortune, who, to 
use an image borrowed from one of the medals of 
the period, threw a bridle over the neck of the Revo- 
lution, and compelled her to his purpose. The an- 
nexation of Spain and the invasion of Russia, the 
two great mistakes of Napoleon, were bitterly de- 
nounced by all Tories ; and his defeat and abdication, 
in the spring of 1814, were joyfully hailed by Scott 
as deserved retribution and punishment. Then fol- 
lowed the restoration of the Bourbons, — a family who 

16 241 



242 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1815 

had forgotten nothing and learned nothing in twenty 
years of exile, and who, failing to win the confidence 
and affection of France, fled when the news of Na- 
poleon's return from Elba reached them, in March, 
1815; he fulfilling the imperial promise, that his 
eagles would fly from steeple to steeple until they 
alighted on the pinnacle of Notre Dame. 

Then once more War yoked the red dragons of 
her iron car ; and. Napoleon being declared an out- 
law by the allied sovereigns of Europe, a new and 
terrible struggle ensued, which was not ended when 
Scott quitted London at the end of May. The con- 
test was brief, but decisive ; and Napoleon's defeat at 
Waterloo on the 18th of June, 1815, closed the won- 
derful Reign of the Hundred Days, and ended his own 
public career. There was a second Bourbon restora- 
tion, this time decidedly against the popular wish of 
France, but with the assistance of England, which, 
fifteen years later, surrendered the principle upon 
which she had engaged in long warfare, at the cost of 
doubling her national debt ; declaring in 1830 that one 
nation had not a right to dictate to another what form 
of government she must have, nor from what dynas- 
tic family her ruler must be taken. 

Several times, during the progress of the Peninsular 
war, Scott had felt inclined to visit the theatre of 
military action, in which some of his kindred, and 
many of his friends, were winning glory ; but Mrs. 
Scott had so many wifely fears of danger, that he re- 
mained at home. When the news of the victory at 
Waterloo resounded through the land, he prepared to 
visit the battle-field, and take a view of conquerors 
and conquered at Paris. He did not reach Belgium 
until the first week in August, and was accompanied 
by his kinsman, John Scott of Gala, and two other 
young friends. He started, too, with the intention 
of writing a book, to be entitled " Paul's Letters to 



.f:T. 44.] " Paul's letters to his kinsfolk." 243 

his Kinsfolk," and had made arrangement for its 
publication. " Thenceforth, accordingly," Lockhart 
says, " he threw his daily letters to his wife into the 
form of communications meant for an imaginary 
group, consisting of a spinster sister, a statistical laird, 
a rural clergyman of the Presbterian Kirk, and a 
brother, a veteran officer on half-pay. The rank of 
this last personage corresponded, however, exactly 
with that of his own elder brother, John Scott, who 
also, like the Major of the book, had served in the 
Duke of York's unfortunate campaign of 1797 ; the 
sister is only a slender disguise for his aunt Christian 
Rutherford, already often mentioned ; Lord Somer- 
ville, long President of the Board of Agriculture, 
was Paul's laird ; and the shrewd and unbigoted Dr. 
Douglas of Galashiels was his " minister of the gos- 
pel." These epistles, after having been devoured by 
the little circle at Abbotsford, were transmitted to 
Major John Scott, his mother, and Miss Rutherford, 
in Edinburgh : from their hands they passed to those 
of James Ballantyne and Mr. Erskine, both of whom 
assured me that the copy ultimately sent to the press 
consisted in great part of the identical sheets that 
successively reached Melrose through the post." 

There was very little to be done to these manu- 
scripts when he returned ; and the result was a very 
readable volume, far more impartial than, considering 
his notorious political proclivities, had been expected 
from him. Like many others at that time, he took 
for gospel what Jean Baptiste de Costar, a shrewd 
Walloon, who pretended that he had served as Na- 
poleon's guide all through the day of Waterloo, 
chose to relate of what that chief had done and said 
throughout the strife. There are serious grounds for 
doubting whether at any time De Costar was within 
seven miles of Waterloo : but he said that he was ; told 
a plausible story, which, in the course of years, became 



244 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1815 

an incredible one, realizing Virgil's ''vires acquiret 
eundo ; " and lived all the rest of his life, a prosperous 
man, upon the reputation of having been Napoleon's 
guide. 

" Paul's Letters " contain, with much of mere 
hearsay, a good deal of personal observation. In one 
letter, Scott anticipated the ultimate separation of 
Holland and Belgium ; and in another, noticing the 
aroused dislike of the liberals in Paris to the restored 
Bourbons, predicted their final choice of the Duke of 
Orleans as sovereign. 

The essence of Scott's subsequently extended ac- 
count of Waterloo was given in a long letter to the 
Duke of Buccleugh from Brussels, in which he de- 
scribed the then appearance of that fatal plain, and 
gave, as it were, a bird's-eye view of the battle. This 
narrative is easy, clear, and comprehensive. He re- 
lates, with the keen delight of a collector, what relics 
of the strife he had been able to procure at Waterloo, 
— cuirasses, eagles, casques, swords, a cross of the 
Legion of Honor, a manuscript book of French songs, 
some of which he translated in " Paul's Letters," and 
even for the Duke, who also was to have one of " two 
handsome cuirasses," and one of the little memo- 
randum-books which he had picked up on the field, 
in which every French soldier was obliged to enter 
his receipts and expenditure, his services, and even 
his punishments. 

In Paris, the reception of Scott, not alone by the 
most distinguished British statesmen and soldiers, but 
by foreign sovereigns and their leading assistants in 
council and camp, was most distinguished. As a 
deputy-lieutenant of Selkirkshire, he chose to wear 
the handsome laced uniform of that rank ; and, his 
lameness contributing to confirm the mistake, was 
kindly questioned at dinner, by the Czar Alexander, 
in what affair he had been wounded. He adroitly 



/^T. 44] LORD BYRON. 245 

parried the question with an equivoque. Platoff, the 
Hetman of the Cossacks, who took a great fancy to 
him, though neither understood what the other said, 
meeting him one day in the Rue de la Paix, jumped 
off his horse, and, running up to him, kissed him on 
each side of the cheek with extraordinary expressions 
of affection, and invited him, through an aide-de-camp, 
to join his staff at the next great review, promising 
to mount him on the gentlest of his Ukraine horses. 
Old Bliicher, too, — the Prussian " Marshal Forwards," 
who, coming up at Waterloo, had converted the re- 
treat of the French into a rout, — seemed to take a 
great interest in the tall, sinewy, lame gentleman, 
with his ruddy complexion and sandy hair, upon 
whom, though certainly not a soldier, many eyes 
turned. Lastly, Scott was introduced to the Duke 
of Wellington by Sir John Malcolm (a Borderer who 
won two laurel crowns, of war and literature, in the 
East) ; and this, which soon matured into a lasting 
friendship, Scott repeatedly said was " the highest 
distinction of his life." 

Returning with his young friend, Scott of Gala, to 
London, he called with him upon Byron, who agreed 
to dine with them at Long's Hotel. The party con- 
sisted of Scott, Byron, Gala, and the two actors, 
Charles Mathews and Daniel Terry. As might be 
expected, Scott talked chiefly about Waterloo, which 
Byron subsequently characterized as " bloody and 
most bootless." This was on the 14th of September, 
1815. The two poets never met again, but wrote to 
each other every now and then. Mathews accom- 
panied the Scotts to Warwick and Kenil worth, both 
of which castles the poet had seen before, but now 
more particularly examined. Abbotsford was reached 
before the close of the month ; and Scott immediately 
began to compose that poem upon Waterloo which 
has already been mentioned. It was completed in a 



246 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1815 

week ; and the Ballantynes subjected it to a severe 
course of verbal criticism, the general justice of which 
the poet frankly acknowledged. 

" The Field of Waterloo " was published in Octo- 
ber, 1815 ; and the profits of the first edition, like 
those of '' Don Roderick," were given to the fund for 
the relief of sufferers by the war. " Paul's Letters " 
appeared in a twelve-shilling octavo volume early in 
1816, and the reception by the public was most favora- 
ble. While it was passing through the press, Scott 
was sketching out the plan of his third novel, " The 
Antiquary," and had assisted in a great foot-ball 
match at Casterhaugh, near the junction of the 
Ettrick and Yarrow, between the people of Selkirk 
and those of the dale of Yarrow. The Duke of Buc- 
cleugh, with most of his family, and other nobles and 
gentry of the county, were present ; and Scott, the 
sheriff, was a proud man when his eldest son ('' al- 
ready a bold horseman and a fine shot," though only 
about fourteen years old), suitably mounted and 
armed, and dressed, like a forester of old, in green, 
rode over the field with the ancient banner of Buc- 
cleugh, — the pennon of Bellendon, — which he dis- 
played to the sound of the war-pipes, amid the 
acclamation of the two thousand persons present. 
There was a great deal of feasting, with some noisy 
but sober revelry ; and, as darkness descended before 
the sport was concluded, none of the contestants 
suffered the humiliation of defeat. 

" The Antiquary," like most other of the novels, 
was written rapidly. ••' When once I get my pen to 
the paper," Scott wrote, " it will walk fast enough." 
It appeared in May, 1816. In the preface, the un- 
known author announced that it completed " a series 
of fictitious narratives intended to illustrate the 
manners of Scotland at three different periods : 
• Waverley ' embraced the age of our fathers ; ' Guy 



MT. 44.] " THE ANTIQUARY " IN HAND. 247 

Mannerinc^,' that of our own youth ; and ' The Anti- 
quary ' refers to the hist ten years of the eighteenth 
century." The plot is defective, chiefly in the 
melodramatic incidents which connect Major Lovel 
with the history and mystery of the Earl of Glen- 
allan, and the Countess, his terrible mother. Some 
very impressive scenes are worked up with great 
power : the escape of Sir Arthur Wardour and his 
daughter, when overtaken by a spring-tide on the 
sands of Halkethead, — an escape chiefly effected by 
the gallantry and coolness of Lovel ; Dousterswivel's 
alarm on the ruins of St. Ruth's Priory at midnight ; 
the funeral-scene in the cottage of Mucklebackit ; 
the fisherman at Mussel-crag; the death of Old 
Elspeth ; and the recognition of Lovel by his father. 
Humorous situations are also presented; and among 
these must be included the sieore of Knockwinnock 
by the bailiffs, and its being "raised" by Edie Ochil- 
tree ; the adventure of Hector with the phoea ; the 
blunder about the Roman camp ; the inquisitive pro- 
ceedings at Fairport post-office ; and, from first to 
last, the alternate meanness and liberality, quick 
temper and acute judgment, palpable pedantry and 
sound learning, rank prejudice and genuine good 
nature, of Jonathan Oldbuck. The king's bedesman, 
or licensed mendicant, fairly divides the interest with 
the antiquary. Lovel and Miss Wardour, though 
hero and heroine of the tale, have, to use Pope's 
words, " no character at all ; " Dousterswivel would 
be all the better for losing his : but Edie and Oldbuck 
are new and good creations, — the former drawn 
from George Constable, his father's friend, whom 
Scott first met at Preston-Pans when lie was only six 
years old ; and the other also sketched from life, the 
original being one Andrew Gammels, an old mendi- 
cant, whose district, or beat, was in Scott's own 
vicinity in the country. Monkbarns, the residence 



248 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i8i6 

of the antiquary, is supposed to have been drawn 
from Mr. Constable's residence near Dundee. Fair- 
port can be no other than Arbroath, whose ancient 
abbey is introduced as St. Ruth's Priory. 

The powerful and thrilling narrative of the immi- 
nent peril from which Miss Wardour and her father 
are rescued by means of an extempore crane and a 
chair lowered down from one of the cliffs to the ledge 
of rock on which they crouched for safety, while the 
advancing tide raged and foamed below, is one of 
Scott's chef 9 d'oeuvre. A vignette from a drawing by 
Birket Foster, in Osgood's household edition of the 
Waverley novels, accurately realizes the peril of the 
lady, as she swang to and fro, with danger of being 
dashed against the side of the precipice, either by the 
force of the wind or the vibration of the cord. It was 
not merely from imagination that Scott produced this 
scene : he had exjDerienced a like peril. Five years 
ago, Mr. William Kennedy, then aged eighty-three, 
who had been engaged in erecting the Bell rock Light- 
house, fifteen miles from Arbroath, communicated to 
a Canadian paper some " Recollections of the late 
Mr. Robert Stevenson* and the Scotch Lighthouses." 

These '' Recollections " say that when the lighthouse 
commissioners, with Scott and two or three other 
guests, came to the Bell Rock, Kennedy was captain 
of the station, with two assistants. Let him tell the 
story in his own words : '^ At low tide, the whole 
party landed on the rock. Mr. Stephenson, leading, 
climbed up the rope-ladder in sailor fashion, the 
others following him. Sir Walter was a heavy man, 

* This gentlemnn, who was the architect of the Scottish lighthouses 
designated '* Tlie Northern Lights," must not be confounded with Robert 
Stephenson, only eon of the well-known maker of the first English raih-oad, 
and was himself the constructor of the Britannia Tubular Bridge in Wales, 
which he repeated over the St. Lawrence at Montreal, and over the Nile in 
Egypt. He died in October, 1859 ; and was interred in Westminster Abbey. 
Mr. Robert Stephenson, who died long before that date, published, in 1824, 
m "Account of the Bell-rock Lighthouse." 



^T. 45] BELL-ROCK LIGHTHOUSE. 249 

and lame, and had to be hoisted up with the crane. 
A large arm-chair, made for the purpose, was lowered 
down to the rock. Fixed Sir Walter into it, locked 
the chain, and hailed to heave away. I ran up the 
rope-ladder and received him at the door, thirty feet 
up from the rock ; relieved him from the chair, and 
assisted him up through the house, describing the 
contents of each room as we ascended. On getting 
to the upper room, or library, I set a chair, and laid 
the house album before him : that is a large ruled 
book, in which every visitor wrote his name, and made 
what remarks he pleased. He looked over it a little ; 
then took the pen and wrote the six lines of poetry * 
which since then have gone all over the world. 
We then ascended twelve feet higher to the light- 
room, where he stood quite in amazement. The 
beautiful machinery was in motion. The lantern 
frame, with its twenty-four silver reflectors, was re- 
volving, the two bells on the balcony tolling, and 
every thing in fine order. Sir Walter said he never 
had seen such a sight before. He was rather timid, 
and dare not look over the balcony rail, ninety-five 
feet up from the rock. The whole height is a hundred 
and sixteen feet. But now the tide was rising, and the 
party must descend. Mr. Stevenson led the way down, 
and I stuck by Sir Walter. I went before him back- 
wards ; he following, also backwards, while I directed 
his feet on the iron steps of the twisted-rope ladder 
down to the door, placed him in the safety-chair, turned 
out the crane, and Sir Walter was dangling in mid-air. 



* The lines, now included in all collections of Scott's poems, are 
these : — 

" PHAROS LOQUITUR. 

" Far in the bosom of the deep. 
O'er these wild shelves my watch I keep : 
A ruddy gem of changeful light. 
Bound on the dusky brow of Night, 
The seaman bids myhistre hail. 
And seems to strike his timorous sail." 



250 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i8i6 

thirty feet from the rock, as pale as a ghost. I was 
down before hmi, and relieved him from the chair. 
He did not utter a word, but gave my hand a squeeze ; 
got into the boat with all the party on board the 
yacht, and made sail to the north, to the Shetland 
isles, where Sir Walter was gathering matter for his 
tale of ' The Pirate.' " 

It is recorded in Scott's diary that his visit to the 
lighthouse took place in July 30, 1814, and that "you 
enter by a ladder of rope with wooden steps about 
thirty feet from the bottom." Though he has made 
no mention of peril, it is difficult to suppose that 
Scott, lame as he was, could have climbed such a lad- 
der of rope. Most probably he was " whipped " up 
in a chair by the crane. If he was frightened when 
swinging in mid-air as he returned, the world gained 
by his employment of the incident in his romance. 

About the time when " The Antiquary" was pub- 
lished. Major John Scott died; thus reducing the 
poet's own family to his mother, residing in Edin- 
burgh, and Mr. Thomas Scott, his only surviving 
brother. He wrote to the latter, informing him that 
the deceased had left six thousand pounds between 
them, hinting that in a short space of years both of 
them must succeed to a similar sum belonging to their 
mother ; and urghig him to return from Canada to 
Scotland, which he never did. 

" The Antiquary," to which Scott said the public 
did not take very kindly at first, though six thousand 
copies were sold in six days, was his own favorite 
among all the riovels. The period did not admit of 
so much romantic situation. " It wants the romance 
of ' Waverley ' and the adventure of ' Guy Manner- 
ing,' " he said : " and yet there is some salvation in 
it ; for, if a man will paint from Nature, he will be 
likely to amuse those who are daily looking at it." 

Before it was printed he had planned " The Tales 



^T. 45-] "OLD MORTALITY." 251 

of My Landlord," and had begun to write the his- 
torical portion for '' The Annual Register " of 1814 ; 
and subsequently worked up a considerable portion 
of this into his biography of Napoleon. 

Constable, who, almost from the first, had been 
aware of the authorship of the novels, did not like 
to bargain for an unwritten story before the third 
had been published ; and it was arranged that Mur- 
ray of London, and his agent, Blackwood of Edin- 
burgh, should take the risk and half profits of the 
first edition of the next work, on the title-page of 
which not even the attractive announcement, " By 
the author of ' Waverley,' " was to appear. But the 
publishers and the public did not doubt from what 
mint this new coinage came. 

Blackwood the publisher, — this was before the ap- 
pearance of the celebrated magazine which bears his 
name, and the success of which was largely owing to 
his shrewdness and judgment, — who had been 
pleased with the early chapters of '' The Black 
Dwarf," thought there was a decided falling-off to- 
wards the close ; and having ascertained that such an 
acute critic as Mr. Gifford, of '^ The Quarterly Re- 
view," was of the same opinion, suggested that the 
conclusion should be re-written ; which elicited a very 
strong expression of dissent and indignation from the 
author. When the first series of '^ Tales of My 
Landlord " appeared, the public agreed with Black- 
wood and Gifford ; but " Old Mortality," the other 
story, was generally approved of, except by some who 
thought that injustice had been done to the old Scot- 
tish Cameronians. When Lord Holland, Avhose judg- 
ment in literary matters had great weight among a 
certain section of the British aristocracy, was asked 
his opinion of the new Scotch novel, he answered, 
" Opinion ! we did not one of us go to bed last night ; 
nothing slept but my gout." 



252 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i8i6 

In order still further to baffle curiosity, " The Tales 
of My Landlord " appeared as " collected and ar- 
ranged by Jedediah Cleishbotham, schoolmaster and 
parish-clerk of Gandercleugh ; " and the change of 
publisher was another little artifice with a similar 
purpose. Mr. Train, Scott's exciseman, had visited 
him in May, 1816, and given him a letter from a 
veritable schoolmaster, who had facetiously signed 
it Clashbottom^ — a professional appellation derived 
from the use of the birch. On this hint was founded 
the conceited and pedantic pedagogue, who intro- 
duces the tales as the productions of his clever usher ; 
and Galashiels, which lay at Scott's own door, was 
scarcely caricatured in the lively description of Gan- 
dercleugh. The few incidents which occur in that 
redoubted village are very naturally introduced. 

" Old Mortality," the second story in this series, 
probably owed its origin to a hint from Mr. Train, 
who, on that first visit to Scott, saw in his library a 
portrait of Graham of Claverhouse, " the bonnie 
Dundee " of song, and was affected by the beautiful 
and melancholy visage, worthy of the most pathetic 
dreams of romance. Train said, that, in good hands, 
Claverhouse might be made as much of as " the 
Young Chevalier," and hinted that such a tale might 
be related by Old Mortality. Scott inquired into 
the identity of this personage, and received an ac- 
count of Robert Patterson, whose mission for forty 
years in the last century, without fee or reward, was 
that of repairing the tombstones of martyr Covenant- 
ers, of recutting their half-obliterated inscriptions, 
and oft-times of erecting new memorials. He trav- 
ersed the south-west of Scotland, fulfilling this pious 
purpo^. Scott saw him thus occupied, in 1793, upon 
some tombs in the churchyard of Danottar, in Kin- 
cardineshire, close to the ruins of the castle, so called, 
belonging to the Earls Marischall, Their intercourse 



'ET. 45.] " OLD MORTALITY." 253 

was brief, and Old Mortality was uncommunicative. 
He died, at an advanced age, in 1801 ; and a monu- 
ment, coupling his name with Scott's, was placed, not 
long since, over his grave in Caerlaverock churchyard, 
near Dumfries, by Messrs. Black, present publishers 
of the Waverley novels. Mr. Train received his in- 
formation from a son of Old Mortality, — alive in 1816, 
in his seventy-first year. John, another son, sailed for 
America, in the good ship " Golden Rule " of White- 
haven, about the year 1774 ; made money during the 
War of Independence ; afterwards became a wealthy 
merchant in Baltimore, where he married and had 
two children. Robert, his son, married Marian 
Caton, an American lady, who, surviving him, be- 
came second wife of the Marquis Wellesley, elder 
brother of the Iron Duke, and died in 1853. Eliza- 
beth Patterson married on Christmas Eve, 1803, 
Jerome, youngest brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, 
who subsequently used his influence and power to 
have the union declared null and void. This lady 
survives : her only son, Jerome, died at Baltimore a 
year ago (June, 1870), but left at least one son. 
Thus singularly have the descendants of Old Mor- 
tality been connected Avith four countries, — Scot- 
land, England, France, and the United States. 

" Old Mortality " was the first of Scott's historical 
novels. The character of Claverhouse was drawn so 
favorably, that those who sympathized with the 
Covenanters took umbrage ; and Dr. Thomas McCrie, 
the biographer of John Knox, challenged the accu- 
racy of the novelist's coloring. These invectives, 
pubhshed month after month in an Edinburgh reli- 
gious magazine, made so much impression on the pub- 
lic mind as to induce Scott to violate his ruld of not 
minding criticism. He had promised to notice the 
novels in " The Quarterly Review," chiefly to baffle 
inquiry into their authorship ; and the article was 



254 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i8i6 

written by William Erskine and himself, the portion 
contributed by the real Simon Pure being a defence of 
his own treatment of the Covenanters in his romance. 

The Ettrick Shepherd has charged Scott with 
having stolen the idea of " Old Mortality " from his 
own '' Brownie of Bodsbeck." Both tales were of 
the period of the Covenanters ; but Scott's appeared 
in 1817, and Hogg's a year later. Hogg published 
" The Three Perils of Man " in 1823 ; and has recorded 
that it " made no ordinary impression on him [Scott], 
as he subsequently copied the whole of the main plot 
into his tale of 'Castle Dangerous.' " 

By this time (the close of 1816), Scott had become 
a considerable landed proprietor, as far as extent of 
territory was concerned. To the original Clarty 
Hole, on Tweed-side, he had added Kaeside and jjart 
of Totfield adjoining, so as to augment his property 
from a hundred and fifty to about a thousand acres. 
These purchases had cost him fourteen thousand one 
hundred pounds in five years, — no great pressure 
upon one whose permanent income was over ten 
thousand pounds per annum ; who could easily gain 
a great deal more by his pen ; who had inherited 
within that period at least nine thousand pounds 
from his uncle and brother ; and who, then only 
forty -five jeeivs old, apparently had before him 
twenty years of that labor, equally productive and 
profitable, which had become as a necessary pastime 
to him. But surgit amari aliquid: and the bitter drop 
in his draught was his secret partnership in the Ballan- 
tyne publishing-house ; the continued and increasing 
involvement of which, it cannot be denied, arose 
largely from the unsalable nature of many and costly 
works which it produced on his own suggestion. 

With the extension of his landed property, natu- 
rally came a desire to erect, not that " cottage of 
gentility " immortalized in Southey's diabolical satare, 



/ET. 45.] ABBOTSFORD. 255 

but a mansion of imposing and picturesque aspect, 
which should somewhat resemble the ancient castles 
and towers he loved so well, and also possess the so- 
cial comforts, and even the elegances, of an advanced 
state of civilization. With the assistance of Mr. 
Blore, an architect of considerable taste, an extension 
of the cottage originally designed by Mr. Terry was 
commenced, with handsome elevations to the river 
and the road. Mr. Bullock, who deserved the char- 
acter of " a virtuoso," which Scott had claimed for 
himself in childhood, undertook to take care of the 
interior ; and readily, with his own hands, made 
many casts of masks and grotesque carvings from 
Melrose Abbey for the ornamentation of Scott's pri- 
vate study. Already Mrs. Terry (whose father, 
Alexander Nasmyth, painted the best portrait of 
Burns) had offered the use of her pencil in designing 
those windows of painted glass which now shed a 
" dim religions light " in the armory. Some decora- 
tions from the old Tolbooth of Edinburgh, — the 
prison which Scott designated '' the Heart of Mid- 
Lothian," — particularly the copestones of the door- 
way, or lintels, may now be seen half-way up the 
front-wall of the house, giving entrance to no place ! 
Mr. Atkinson, a famous London architect, also took 
great interest in the new mansion, revising the plans, 
and assisting with his excellent judgment and con- 
siderable experience. 

Long before the autumn was over (it is several 
weeks later on Tweed -side than on the Thames- 
side), the new house was roofed, — that is, the west- 
ern portion of it ; for great additions to it were subse- 
quently made. In front was placed the old stone 
fountain which formerly stood upon the Cross of 
Edinburgh, in '^ the auld toun," at which royal and 
civic proclamations were made with no small pomp 
and ceremony. This fountain flowed with wine at 



256 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [iSi; 

the coronations of Scottish kings, and upon some 
other occasions of public rcjoicinj^. In the following 
autumn, with his old friends Lord Melville and Adam 
Fergusson as guests, besides several neighbors, in- 
cluding John Wilson and J. G. Lockhart (his guests 
for the first time), Scott had a gay party, — tlie hand- 
ad; for lie would now allow it to be considered the 
house-he at hi fj of the new AbbotsfoJ'<l. 

The year 1817 had commenced with thr; [>ublica- 
tion of " ' Harold the Dauntless,' by the author of 
' The Bridal of Triermain,' " part of which had been 
printed some years back. It did not maintain Scott's 
fame as a poet. About this time, too, appeared, in a 
little weekly periodical called *' The Sales-Room," 
published by John liallantyne, th(i humorous i)oem, 
entitled *' The Sultan of Serendib, or the Search after 
Happiness." 

A project for raising him to the judicial bench fell 
through at this period. An expected vacancy in the 
Court of Exchequer led to his entertaining this idea. 
But Scott, though as good a lawyer as a man whose 
whole earnings at the bar had not amounted to fifteen 
hundred pounds in ten years, certainly did not pos- 
sess the requisite judicial mind; and though very few 
cases came before the Court of Exchecpier, still some 
little business was to be done. As one of the principal 
Clerks of Session, his duties in court were little more 
than clerical, and need not occupy his mind aft(;r the 
daily rising of the Court. But he must have known 
that a judge has a great deal to do besides hearing 
motions, giving decisions, and trying cases, in court. 
Besides, though some of the eminent men who have 
worn the ermine have flirted with the Muses, the 
constant occupation of producing works of fancy 
would have been scarcely com[)atible with the dignity 
of the Bench. The Uuke of Buccleugh, whose opin- 
ion lie sought, and on whose influcinct; lie would 



^T. 46 ] THOMAS THE RHYMER. 257 

mainly have relied, did not encourage the idea, which 
was then abandoned. All further consideration, at 
that time, was also checked by Scott's illness, — a 
severe attack of cramp in the stomach, to which he 
continued more or less of a martyr for the next two 
years, weakening his constitution, and evidently 
aging his appearance. The first attack prostrated him 
for three weeks, and fortunately occurred in Edin- 
burgh, where the best medical advice could be in- 
stantly obtained. Immediately after his recovery, he 
wrote the '^ Farewell to the Stage," which Kemble de- 
livered with touching effect. He installed his humble 
friend, William Laidlaw, in a cottage on his own new- 
ly-acquired property of Kaeside, obtained for him some 
literary work to execute, and (April 5, 1817) con- 
cluded a contract with Constable lor a new romance. 
It was Constable who suggested the title of " Rob 
Roy, by the author of Waverley ; " and the bookseller 
was so much deliixhted at being: a<j:ain " let in on the 
ground-floor," that he allowed himself to be talked 
over, on his return from Abbotsford, into taking all 
the dead stock of the Ballantyne publishers. In July, 
Scott made an excursion to refresh his memory of 
Rob Roy's haunts, visiting Glasgow to revive his 
recollection of Bailie Jarvie's place of residence. 
On his return, he increased his estate so as to include 
most of the country associated with the strains of 
Thomas the Rhymer. The additional cost was ten 
thousand pounds ; and, changing the name of the place 
from Tolfield to Huntley Burn, he placed Adam Fer- 
gusson and his sisters there as tenants of an excel- 
lent mansion recentl}'- built, — thus bringing within 
an easy walk of Abbotsford one of his oldest and 
dearest friends. The garden of the Fergussons was 
the traditional scene of Thomas the Rhymer's inter 
views with the Queen of the Fairies. 

17 



CHAPTER XVI. 

" Knickerbocker." — Henry Brevoort. — Scott's New-England Tracts. — Wash- 
ing Irving at Abbotsford. — Parlor Sketch. — Other American Visitors: Ed- 
ward Everett. George Ticknor, J. G.Cogswell, G. Stuart Newton. Charles R. 
Leslie. — Miss Coutts. — John Inman's Reminiscences. — S.G.Goodrich. — 
J. Fenimore Cooper. — Brockden Brown. 

1813—1826. 

"TTT"ALTER Scott, says the biographer of Wash- 
VV ington Irving, " was the first trans- Atlantic 
author to bear witness to the merits of ' Knicker- 
bocker.' " The work had been placed in his hands by 
Mr. Henry Brevoort of New York, one of Irving's 
oldest and dearest friends ; and a letter from Abbots- 
ford, in April, 1813, to Mr. Brevoort, expresses the 
uncommon degree of entertainment which the writer 
had received from that " excellently jocose history of 
New York." While he could not understand the 
concealed satire of the piece, as a stranger to Ameri- 
can parties and politics, he said, " I must own, that, 
looking at the simple and obvious meaning only, I 
have never read any thing so closely resembling the 
style of Dean Swift as the annals of Diedrich Knick- 
erbocker. I have been employed these few evenings 
in reading them aloud to Mrs. S. and two ladies who 
are our guests ; and our sides have been absolutely 
sore with laughing. I think, too, there are passages 
which indicate that the author possesses powers of a 
different kind, and has some touches which remind 
me much of Sterne." 

258 



^T. 42.] HENRY BREVOORT. 259 

Mr. Brevoort — who, as early as 1810, had begun to 
form the fine library now possessed and enjoyed by 
his son, Mr. J. Carson Brevoort, attended lectures at 
the University of Edinburgh in 1812-13, where he 
became acquainted with Scott, Jeffrey, Wilson, and 
other notabilities of that time and place, and with 
Irving, Ticknor, Everett, and J. G. Cogswell (finally 
superintendent and first organizer of the "Astor Li- 
brary) — came under Scott's definition of '^ another 
well-accomplished Yankee." It is stated in Dr. James 
Wynne's " Libraries of New York," that Scott was 
so much interested in the romantic personal narratives 
of an elder relative, who had spent a number of ^^ears 
upon the frontiers, and was well acquainted with the 
Lidian character and mythical legends, as to have 
seriously thought of visiting America in person, and 
of examining the spots for himself whose associations 
had taken such deep root in his fancy. Thomas Scott, 
his brother, might have been this " elder relative ; " 
for he had lived many years in Canada, where he died 
in 1823 : but Thomas Scott had never returned to 
Scotland even for a short time, and therefore could 
not have spoken to him about Lidian warfare and 
myths. Scott, we are told, had conceived the idea 
of writing some work requiring a full knowledge of 
early New-England history, manners, and customs, 
and an acquaintance with the traits and characteristics 
of the tribes of the American Indians. Thomas 
Campbell, it Avill be remembered, had published " Ger- 
trude of Wyoming," with Pennsylvania scenery and 
incidents ; and Robert Southey's posthumous poem, 
" Oliver Newman," is a New-England tale. When Scott 
abandoned the idea of taking up this American subject, 
he sent to Mr. Brevoort the most rare and curious of 
the quaint narratives of the early settlers and travel- 
lers in New England with a brief note, saying, " As 
the enclosed tracts must have more interest for you 



260 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1817 

than for any person of tliis country, you will do me 
great pleasure by accepting them from yours truly, 
W. Scott." These tracts, though not numerous, are 
valuable. Some have Scott's autograph ; and one vol- 
ume had his book-mark on the back, — a portcullis, 
with the words Clausus tutus ero^ which is the ana- 
gram of his name in Latin, UUalterus Scotus. These 
publications are now in the possession of Mr. J. Carson 
Brevoort of Brooklyn, son of the presentee, and in- 
heritor of his library. 

It was in return for these rare books that Henry 
Brevoort presented Scott with the second edition of 
" Knickerbocker." He sent Scott's eulogistic letter to 
Irving ; adding, "You must understand his words lit- 
erally ; for he is too honest and too sincere a man to 
compliment any person." Although naturally a shy 
and retiring man, Irving, when leaving London in the 
summer of 1817, did not hesitate to accept a very 
particular letter of introduction to Scott from Thomas 
Campbell, knowing that " the Great Unknown," as 
the Lord of Abbotsford even then was designated, 
already was favorably disposed to him. In Edinburgh 
he resumed his acquaintance Avith Jeffrey and his 
brother, whom he had met in New York some years 
before. Mr. Brevoort, long ere this, had drawn this 
comparison, not quite after the method of Plutarch, 
between the poet and his critic : *' I am now pretty 
well acquainted with the luminaries of Edinburgh 
(this was written early in 1813) ; and confess, that, 
among them all, Scott is the man of my choice : he 
has not a grain of pride or affectation in his whole 
composition. Neither the voice of fame nor the hom- 
age of the great has altered, in the least, the native 
simplicity of his heart. . . . Jeffrey excels him in 
brilliancy of conversation : but Jeffrey always seems 
to be acting a studied part ; and although his social 
feelings may be no less warm than Scott's, yet they 



JET, 46.] WASHINGTON IRVING. 261 

are more or less disguised under a species of affecta- 
tion. His friends esteem him a miracle of perfection ; 
and, in point of talent, none will be found to contra- 
dict them : but, as for the et cceteras, I would not give 
the Minstrel for a wilderness of Jeffreys." 

Irving has repeatedly told the story of his visit to 
Abbotsford : first in off-hand letters to his brother 
Peter, written at the moment ; next in '' The Crayon 
Miscellany," published in 1835, wholly devoted to 
Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey ; and, after that, 
for Lockhart's " Life of Scott," where portions of 
his reminiscences are dove-tailed into the text. It 
would be unjust to my readers to draw largely upon 
such well-known productions. It is sufficient to state, 
that on the 30th of August, 1817, on his way from 
Selkirk to Melrose Abbey, Irving stopped at the gate 
of Abbotsford, and sent in his letter of introduction 
and card ; on receipt of which Scott quitted the break- 
fast-table, came out in company with a troop of dogs, 
laid friendly hands upon him, instantly made him at 
home with the family, detained him for several days, 
and took care, himself mostly acting as cicerone, that 
he should see Melrose (though not by moonlight), 
Ettrick Vale, Gala Water, the Braes of Yarrow, the 
haunts of Thomas the Rhymer, Dryburgh Abbey, and 
Smallholm Tower on the Sandy-Knowe Crags, the 
beloved haunt of his childhood. 

In a letter to his brother, Irving thus sketched the 
family group at Abbotsford : " I was with Scott from 
morning to night, rambling about the hills and streams, 
every one of which would bring to his mind some old 
tale or picturesque remark. I was charmed with his 
family. ... It is a perfect picture to see Scott and 
his household assembled of an evening, — the dogs 
stretched before the fire, the cat perched on a chair, 
Mrs. Scott and the girls sewing, and Scott either read- 
ing out of some old romance or telling border stories. 



262 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1817 

Our amusements were occasionally diversified by a 
border song from Sophie [Miss Scott], who is as well 
versed in border minstrelsy as her father." Irving 
was pressed to pay a second visit. " I could not 
leave Scotland with a quiet conscience if I did not 
have one more crack with the prince of minstrels, 
and pass a few more happy hours with his charming 
family. I want to set out another evening there : 
Scott, reading occasionally from '' Prince Arthur," 
telling border stories or characteristic anecdotes ; 
Sophie Scott singing, with charming naivete^ a little 
border-song ; the rest of the family disposed in listen- 
ing groups ; while greyhounds, spaniels, and cats bask 
in unbounded indulgence before the fire. Every thing 
around Scott is perfect character and feature." Un- 
fortunately, however, Scott was not at Abbotsford 
when Irving called there again. 

At that time, we now know — what Irving, in com- 
mon with most others, only suspected — that Scott was 
busy on " Rob Roy." How he, apparently as unoc- 
cupied as his guest, — now " dawdling " through the 
plantations, anon rambling over the meadow, next 
loitering amid the buildings then in progress, and 
then riding half a dozen miles and back on pleasure 
or official business, — could have time to write, very 
greatly puzzled Irving, who, at the same time, was 
firmly persuaded that none but the one man could be 
the author of the novels. 

On his return to England, Irving sent an American 
miniature edition of her father's poems to Miss Scott ; 
which present was acknowledged by the Minstrel 
himself, with the observation, " I am not quite sure I 
can add my own [thanks], since you made her much 
more acquainted with much more of papa's folly than 
she would otherwise have learned ; for I have taken 
special care they should never see any of these things 
during their earlier years." That this was no affecta- 



/ET. 46.] EDWARD EVERETT. 263 

tion is shown by an incident told by James Ballan- 
tj^ne. Going into the library, where he found Miss 
Scott, then a very young girl, by herself, he asked, 
" Well, Miss Sophia, how do you like " The Lady of 
the Lake"? — which had been recently published. 
Her answer, given with perfect simplicity, was, " Oh ! 
I have not read it : papa says there's nothing so bad 
for young people as reading bad poetry." 

Irving never forgot how substantially he was aided 
by Scott in 1819, who oifered him a magazine editor- 
ship in Edinburgh, with a salary of five hundred 
pounds per annum ; and, in the following year, in- 
duced John Murray of London to publish '' The 
Sketch Book," whose success, and the substantial 
results it realized, determined Irving to pursue au- 
thorship as a profession. To Scott, who was in Lon- 
don in April, 1820, to take up his baronetcy, this 
English edition of " The Sketch Book " was suitably 
and gratefully inscribed : to him, also, may be attrib- 
uted the favorable tone of a criticism upon it, by 
Lockhart, in '' Blackwood's Magazine." 

Abbotsford received another distinguished Amer- 
ican in 1818. Mr. Edward Everett, the eloquent 
statesman and scholar, who subsequently was United- 
States minister to England, made the acquaintance 
of Scott at Edinburgh through an introduction from 
Mr. Gifford ; was kindly received, and invited to 
dinner. At that time, " Rob Roy " had not been long 
published; and was not alluded to, of course, when a 
portrait of that cateran, which Scott had borrowed 
to have a copy made, was handed round the table. 
This absence to all allusion was sufficient to awake 
suspicion; because, in ordinary course, such a work 
would naturally have formed a topic of conversa- 
tion. Mr. Everett, like many others, has recorded, 
that, after tea. Miss Scott "sang several national 
ballads with great simplicity and feeling." 



264 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l8i8 

Mr. Everett subsequently was a visitor at Abbots- 
ford, taking with him the first copy of " The Heart 
of Mid-Lothian " that had been seen by the family. 
At that time, Scott had not taken any one at 
Abbotsford, his wife excepted, into his secret. Miss 
Scott told Mr. Everett, '' We all believe that our 
father is the author ; but we do not know it." They 
respected his mystery, if he had one, too much to 
pry into it: he had always written a great deal, and 
there had been no change in his habits since she had 
been old enough to notice them. On Sunday, the 
family attended family worship at Selkirk ; and most 
of the day passed in conversation, — in part, of a grave 
cast. There must have been a curious scene next 
day, when a few hours were passed in reading " The 
Heart of Mid-Lothian " aloud, Scott taking his turn 
with the rest, remarking with unconcern on the pas- 
sages that struck him, and jesting with Mr. Everett 
on his attempts to imitate the Scottish accent. A 
visit to Melrose in company with the poet ; and the 
evenings passing in conversation, reading, or singing 
on the part of the ladies, with Scott's continuous flow 
of anecdote. Mr. Everett was then only twenty-four 
years old, and must have felt as in an enchanted 
garden of delight : the drone of the bag-pipes during 
dinner, however, might have tended to astonish one 
unused to it.* Twenty-six years after this. Abbots- 
ford was revisited by Mr. Everett. " The saddest 
change," he said, " was the absence of those — the 
venerated, the joyous, the lovely — who filled the 
dwelling with light and happiness. The desolate 
apartments were kept in perfect order ; the innumera- 
ble objects of taste, and of antiquarian and historical 

* Mr. Everett wrote two accounts of his visit to Sir Walter Scott, — first 
for Dr. Alliboue's Dictionary of English Literature, and of British and 
American Authors; and next in the Mount- Vernon Papers. I have taken 
leave to draw on both. 



>^T. 47.] GEORGE TICKNOR. 265 

interest contained in them, admirably preserved and 
arranged : but I could contemplate them only with 
feelings of overwhelming sadness." 

It was a great gratification to Scott that he had 
won the regard of several highly-educated and gifted 
Americans, such as Irving, Everett, Cogswell, and 
others, among whom are included G. S. Newton and 
C. R. Leslie, artists whose reputation is world-wide. 

In the spring of 1819, Mr. George Ticknor of 
Boston, whose recent death has caused not merely 
sorrow to his friends, but deep regret to the world of 
letters, became acquainted with him in Edinburgh 
through the intervention of Irving. Slowly recover- 
ing from a dangerous illness, Scott did not then 
" entertain " as was his hospitable wont ; but Mr. 
Ticknor (who contributed his reminiscences of Scott 
to the second volume of his friend Dr. Allibone's 
great literary dictionary) dined with him in Castle 
street, " very quietly, several times." At that time 
the host was not quite forty-eight years old, and the 
guest exactly twenty years younger. Both were 
highly interested in Spanish literature ; of which, 
thirty years later, Mr. Ticknor became the historian, 
and in which Scott first became interested through 
the spirited translations of some of the romantic 
ballads by his friend John Hookham Frere. When 
Scott first attended the theatrical representation of 
" Rob Roy," he was accompanied by Mr. Ticknor ; with 
whom, on another occasion, he wandered about the 
" auld " or historical portion of Edinburgh, pointing 
out the houses in which eminent Scottish literati and 
philosophers had lived, and telling anecdotes some- 
times in much the same language with Pleydell, the 
lawyer in "Guy Mannering." 

At that time. Miss Scott, who became Mrs. Lock- 
hart in the following year, was " about twenty years 
old. She was not handsome, nor in any way bril- 



266 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1819 

liant ; but she was natural, simple, full of Scottish 
feeling, and though not without outbreaks of enthu- 
siasm, yet remarkable for that sort of canny tact, 
which was, I think, very much to her father's taste. 
She played on the harp, perhaps not very well ; and 
she sang, without having a voice of grand compass 
or power : but she confined herself, so far as I heard 
her, almost entirely to the natural music and the old 
ballads, and in these was as successful as a sibyl, 
with not a little of a sibyl's air and character. It 
was like improvisation, so spontaneous did it seem." 
On one occasion, Mr. Ticknor adds, she was asked to 
play an old ballad of " Rob Roy," and was disturbed 
by the recollection of the way in which her father's 
name had been associated with the adventures of 
that extraordinary Highlander. She ran across the 
room, and whispered to him. " Yes, my dear," he 
replied, loud enough to be heard by those near him, 
"play it, if you are asked; and 'Waverley' and the 
'Antiquary' too, if there are any such ballads." 

When the spring vacation in the law-courts gave 
him a few days' leisure, Scott went to Abbotsford, 
having invited Mr. Ticknor and Mr. Cogswell to be 
his guests. They found the house on Tweed-side, 
"not far from the road; and a very odd-looking 
establishment it was, — neither cottage nor house, 
neitlier ancient nor modern, nor an imitation of any 
thing like Esther, but a complete nondescript, begun 
upon the foundation of a cottage, and gradually grow- 
ing up by successive additions to become nobody 
could tell what." 

At Abbotsford, Mr. Ticknor, like his friends Ir- 
ving and Everett, Avas agreeably impressed by the 
thorough hospitality of its master, who " seemed, like 
Antseus, to touch his kindred earth, and to quicken 
with his influences." His conversation, when walk- 
ing by the side of his own Tweed, or after dinner or 



^-T. 4B.] SCOTT AT HOME. 267 

supper, '' was equal in interest to the same amount 
of reading in one of his novels. It was very different ; 
but it was as good, and as full of his peculiar talent." 
There was only a single guest besides the Ameri- 
cans ; and this was Mr. Skene, an old friend, who 
knew how to draw out Scott's best stories. If literary 
work were done, — and '- The Legend of Montrose " 
appeared shortly after, — it was before breakfast ; 
for Scott was a great deal with his guests, showing 
them places which had been named in song and story, 
relating traditions, and quoting snatches of old ballads 
about them. After an early dinner, throughout 
which (to Mr. Ticknor's annoyance) John of Skye, 
the piper, played so distressingly loud as to render 
conversation not easy, Scott's " talk was as good as a 
given number of pages in one of his novels would 
have been ; " then a ramble rather to, than through, 
the infant plantations ; after that Scot reels in a 
large room which had just been finished ; tea and con- 
versation until ten, at which " a moderate hot supper, 
with whiskey-punch, which Scott valued himself upon 
brewing with more than common skill; and then a very 
short and very gay hour at the table or by the fire- 
side sent us to bed." Mr. Ticknor, like all others 
who have written their impressions of Abbotsford, 
bears testimony to the great frankness in the whole 
family, and on the way they talked about one another. 
Scott was very fond of his children ; and his aim had 
been, " not to over-educate them, but to follow the 
natural indications of their characters rather than 
attempt to mould them." 

On the third day, the visit ended. Scott had an- 
other and most severe attack of cramp or spasm in 
the stomach, which a surgeon attempted to subdue 
by laudanum and bleeding ; and the strangers left 
next morning, — a day earlier than they had in- 
tended. The disease was finally conquered ; but the 



268 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1824 

attack had greatly alarmed the family. Mr. Ticknor 
never saw him afterwards. His sketch gives a lively 
idea of the great author at home. 

In 1824, Mr. C. R. Leslie (who, with Copley, 
West, and Alston, completed the quartet of Ameri- 
can artists admitted to the highest honors of the 
Royal Academy of England), visited Abbotsford to 
paint a half-length portrait of Sir Walter Scott for 
Mr. Ticknor, which Lockhart says that he "never 
saw in its finished state ; but the beginning promised 
well, and I am assured it is worthy of the artist's 
high reputation." Mr. Leslie was the bearer, from 
Murray the publisher, of a mourning-ring which had 
been left to Scott by Lord Byron. 

When Scott was in London, in April, 1820, to " kiss 
hands " on being created baronet, Leslie was taken 
by Washington Irving to breakfast with him. There- 
fore, when he reached Abbotsford in August, 1824, 
accompanied by Newton, he knew him personally. 
As usual, there was a bevy of visitors, — the Mar- 
chioness of Northampton, whom Scott had '' given 
away " on her marriage in 1815 ; Stuart Rose, the 
poet ; Terry the actor, and his wife ; Lady Alvanley 
and her daughters ; and Miss Coutts, the millionnaire, 
who brought with her a lady-companion, doctor, sec- 
retary, page, ladies' maids, and many footmen, — ex- 
actly the Mrs. Million and suite drawn with such 
spirit and fun in Disraeli's brilliant " Vivian Grey." 
It was on this first visit (there was another in 1825, 
with the young Duke of St. Alban's in her train) 
that some of the ladies cut the rich bankeress ; in 
whose behalf Scott quietly interfered, telling the 
marchioness, whom he had known all her life, that. 
Miss Coutts's visit having been announced, if any of 
his guests objected to meeting her because she had 
been an actress, they should have departed before she 
arrived. The hint was taken : the marchioness spoke to 



^T. 53.] LESLIE AND NEWTON. 269 

the other ladies, and the millionnaire was soothed. She 
did not remain for the usual three days, — the rest day, 
the dressed day, and the pressed day, — but departed, 
in great state and many carriages, next morning. 
She subsequently told Stuart Newton, " I remember 
it was when those horrible women were there. Sir 
Walter was very kind, and did all in his power ; but 
I could not stay in the house with them." The ex- 
cuse for them^ if any, was their belief, that, in her per- 
son, Scott had paid an undue deference to mere 
wealth. 

Since his celebrity began, he had little time to give 
to artists, and disliked sitting for his portrait. Leslie 
had to paint him as he sat in the library, writing or 
talking, with guests around. When Sunday came, 
the master of the house read the morning service of 
the Anglican Church to his whole family and guests 
in an impressive manner. Mr. Leslie mentions Scott's 
attachment for dogs. He talked of scenery as he 
wrote of it, — like a painter; yet had no taste for 
pictures as works of art. The greater number of 
paintings on the walls of Abbotsford were poor 
indeed, — such, Leslie said, as " no eye possessing 
sensibility to what is excellent in art could have 
endured." There was more benevolence expressed 
in Scott's face than is given in any portrait of him. 
Mr. Leslie painted a sketch of Tom Purdie, the facto- 
tum of the estate, at Scott's request. This was the 
worthy who told Scott, " Them are fine novels of 
yours. When I have been out all day, hard at work, 
and come home very tired, if I sit down with a tank- 
ard of porter by the fire, and take up one of those 
books, I'm asleep directly." 

While Leslie was at Abbotsford, Stuart Newton 
was Lockhart's guest at Chiefswood, hard by. There 
he painted that lilvcness of Scott which Lockhart 
says "is the best domestic portrait ever done." 



270 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1S28 

There are no recollections or memoranda by Newton 
of this time ; but four years afterwards, in London, 
while he was painting a sketch of Mr. John Inman 
of New York, brother of the painter, an incident 
occurred, from a relation of which, published in "■ The 
New York Mirror" for 1835, I take a few sentences, 
Mr. John Inman being the writer. It runs thus : — 

" The time had nearly elapsed, and I was about preparing to 
take my leave, when a carriage drew up at the door. A double 
knock reverberated through the house; and in the course of an- 
other minute I heard a strange clattering sound upon the stairs, 
that gave me the idea of a person coming up with a cane in each 
hand, planting them with considerable Ibrce at each step as he 
ascended. ' There is Sir Walter now ! ' exclaimed Newton ; and I 
began to feel a little as though my head was too big and heavy for 
my body. The door opened, and a tall, robust, large-framed man, 
plainly but neatly dressed in black, entered the room. I was in- 
troduced to Sir Walter Scott. You may suppose that I examined 
him as closely as good-breeding would permit, and listened with 
all my ears to his conversation ; taking good care to hold my 
tongue except when he addressed himself directly to me, which 
he did several times. Old age — a premature old age it may be 
called — was, at this time, advancing rapidly upon him. Although 
his frame was herculean, and his aspect rugged, he was evidently 
weak. The exertion of coming up the stairs had fatigued him ; and, 
when he seated himself, it was with a languid heaviness very much 
in contrast with his broad shoulders and ample chest. His hair 
was long, thin, and as white as snow, — the effect, I was told, of 
illness at some former period, and not of old age. One of his legs 
was apparently weak, and somewhat smaller — not shorter — than 
the other ; and he was sometimes obliged, as in the present in- 
stance, to wear a mechanical contrivance — an arrangement of 
iron rods, the construction of which I could not distinctly make 
out — to support it. His complexion was dark, — not swarthy, 
but sunburnt ; indeed, I should suppose that it must have been 
originally fair, though somewhat florid ; his features were large and 
prominent ; his eyes of a light gray, or perhaps blue ; his eyebrows 
long, and very heavy ; and his head remarkably large. The most 
remarkable peculiarity of his face, as you perceive in the engrav- 
ing, was the inordinate length of the upper lip, between the mouth 
and nose ; of his head, its extreme deptii from sinciput to occiput, 
which I should think was more than nine inches and a half. 1 am 
wrong, however, in saying that this was the most remarkable pecu- 



^T. 57.] JOHN INMAN. 271 

liarity of his head. Striking as it was, perhaps the eye would be 
more certainly and quickly caught by the height of the cranium ; 
the immense pile of tbrehead towering above the eyes and rising 
to a conical elevation which I have never seen equalled, either in 
bust or living head. The predominant expression of his face was 
shrewdness. Meeting him in the street with his hat on, you would 
have been struck, certainly, by his physiognomy ; but the impres- 
sion it would make on you would be only that of strong, good 
sense, without a particle of ideality : you would say to yom^self, 
* There goes a sturdy, straightforward thinker, who knows what he 
is about as well as most people ; a sort of man whom a lawyer 
would find it hard to puzzle if he were on a jury.' But, with the 
hat off, it was a different man that stood before you : you could 
not look upon that mass of admirably-proportioned head — so 
enormously developed in its anterior portions — without being 
convinced that the intellect working within it was a mighty one. 
When he began to talk, — which he did in a rather low tone, and 
with rapid utterance, — his face, usually heavy, became more ani- 
mated, and an expression of grave humor — humor which seemed 
to be mingled largely with enjoyment of itself — lurked around 
the corners of his mouth, and sometimes, though not frequently, 
sparkled for a moment in his eyes. I can easily imagine, that 
earlier in lite, belbre his health be^an to yield to Incessant appli- 
cation, he must have been an admirable raconteur (excuse the 
French word ; we have none in English that is exactly synony- 
mous), and a most amusing companion. But, when I saw him, he 
was dull, and seemingly dispirited. Perhaps he already felt the 
approaches of disease : indeed, I feel confident that such was the 
fact, judging from an expression that dropped from him, as I 
thought, unaware. 

" After he had sat perhaps half an hour, I felt so much em- 
boldened by his hearty, homely, and most unassuming manner, — 
of all men / ever saw, he had the happiest faculty of making peo- 
ple feel easy and comfortable, — that I ventured to say, half jest- 
ingly, something to the effect that I had never envied the artist, or 
coveted his talent, so much as I did at that moment ; and how 
proud I should be, if I were an artist, to cany with me to America 
what I had never seen there, — ^ a good likeness of Sir Walter Scott. 
' That you can do,' said Sir Walter, ' if Stuart here has a mind to 
be obliging to his countryman : he can make excellent likenesses 
from memory, — or, indeed, from fancy, — eh, Newton ? ' — 'I can 
make a likeness of you from memory. Sir Walter,' answered New- 
ton; ' but if you will sit just as you are, three minutes, " my coun- 
tryman " shall have one, drawn neither from memory nor fancy.' 
Sir Walter smiled, and gave me a side-glance, in which I thought 
I could read a httle amusement at the idea of having piqued New- 



272 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1828. 

ton into making a sketch for me, — as I supposed, by an allusion to 
some former event which the artist did not care to have referred 
to ; and the latter, having selected a piece of thick drawing-paper, 
in about five minutes made the sketch from which your engraving 
is taken, and which I pronounce the most perfect likeness of Sir 
Walter, as he was when I saw him, that possibly could be made, — 
giving an accurate presentment of the shape of his head, the out- 
line of his features in profile, and of his habitual expression when 
not speaking. It is the only direct profile-likeness of him I have 
ever seen ; and therefore more valuable, as giving what no other 
that I have ever seen does give, — a distinct idea of the grand 
formation of his head." 

Considering that Mr. Inman's account is '' as good as 
manuscript " (as Coleridge used to say of interesting 
but scarcely known productions), I have not hesitated 
to use it rather in extenso. 

Of Mr. S. G. Goodrich's meeting Scott twice in 
1824, during a short visit to Edinburgh, I have made 
mention elsewhere. During his hurried visit to Paris, 
in 1826, to consult the French archives for his " Life 
of Napoleon Bonaparte," Sir Walter Scott twice met 
Mr. J. F. Cooper the novelist, whose "Pilot" he 
had strongly eulogized, not long before, in a letter to 
Miss Edge worth. But the intercourse of the two 
novelists was very slight. Scott considered that 
Brockden Brown was the greatest master of prose fic- 
tion that America had produced up to that time. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



"Rob R07" published. — "Wordsworth's Poem. — The Novel Terry-Qed. — 
Mackay's Bailie Nicol Jarvie. — Scott at the Play. — Findiug the Scot- 
tish Regalia. — Lockhart introduced to Scott. — Christopher North. — " The 
Chaldee Manuscript." — "' Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk." — The Author's 
Den in Edinburgh. — ''Heart of Mid-Lothian " published. — Ballantvne's 
Reading. — Original of Jeanie Deans. — House-heating at Abbotsfoi'd. — 
Baronetcy offered. — Profitable Copyright Remainders. 

1818. 

«'T30B ROY" was published on the last day of 
JL\) 1817 ; the first edition of ten thousand copies 
going off in a fortnight. Like " Waverley," it was a 
Jacobite story, — only that this related to the attempt 
of the Stuarts, in 1715, to regain the British crown ; 
whereas the other, of which Prince Charlie was the 
hero, was a tale of 1745. " Rob Roy " is written in 
the autobiographical manner ; and the opening ac- 
count of Francis Osbaldistone's early fancy for Ht- 
erature is somewhat in the vein of Edward Waver- 
ley's loitering over the same field. In other respects, 
the two romances have not much in common. Diana 
Vernon, the heroine, a charming sketch, is finely con- 
trasted with the force and deep shadow of Helen 
McGregor's character ; Rob Roy himself has been 
called the Scotch Robin Hood ; Bailie Nicol Jarvie 
stands out as one of the most natural and amusing 
humorists in fiction ; while Rashleigh Osbaldistone — 
bold, bad, and brave — seems as if he had walked out 
of one of j\[rs. Radcliffe's romances or a popular 
melodrama. The death of Morris is a tragedy, told 

18 273 



274 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l8l8 

in the fewest words, and therefore the more im- 
pressive. Owen, the smug clerk from London, is 
fairly balanced by Nicol Jarvie, pragmatical and self- 
interested, yet capable of doing a generous action. 
The wholesale manner in which the six sons of Sir 
Hildebrand Osbaldistone come to violent deaths, to 
insure the succession to their cousin Frank, shows a 
certain clumsiness, and perhaps carelessness, of work- 
manship, which rather increased than diminished in 
future years. 

The motto to this novel, taken from a poem by 
Wordsworth, entitled " Rob Roy's Grave," was 
this : — 

*' For why ? Because the good old rule 
Sufficeth them ; the simple plan, 
That they should take who have the power, 
And they should keep who can." 

The story goes, that Wordsworth received the three 
volumes of " Rob Roy " when half a dozen visitors, 
who had dropped in to see him in his den, were sit- 
ting in his little parlor at Ambleside. Opening the 
parcel, one of the books fell on the ground ; and the 
gentleman who picked it up read the title-page aloud, 
including the motto. Wordsworth solemnly strode 
to his book-shelf, — for his very few books never 
were so numerous as to deserve the title of library, 
— opened a volume, read aloud his verses, "Rob 
Roy's Grave," then, emphatically closing the book, 
exclaimed, " That's all that need be said about Rob 
Roy! " and, without saluting his visitors, stalked out 
of the house into the garden. It is so characteristic, 
that it might have happened. 

The success of " Rob Roy," at least its hold on the 
popular mind, was largely owing to the fact of its 
having been well dramatized, and still better acted. 
The author's friend Mr. Terry, who was in the se- 



^T. 47.] THE THEATRE. 275 

cret, had dramatized " Guy Mannering " in 1816, — 
Joanna Baillie writing some of the glees for it ; and 
Scott himself contributing the " Lnllaby Song," which 
is not in the original novel. Terry dealt with " Rob 
Roy " in the same way — as Scott used to say, he 
Terry-^Qdi it — while he was stage-manager of Covent- 
Garclen Theatre, London, — the part of Nicol Jarvie 
being written up for John Liston, the comedian ; 
Macready playing Rob Roy with great power ; 
Mr. John Sinclair, the singer, taking the part of 
Francis Osbaldistone ; and Sir Henry Bishop con- 
tributing some beautiful music. Terry sent a marked 
or " acting " copy of the play to his friend Mr. Mur- 
ray, manager of the Edinburgh Theatre, who pro- 
duced it there in Februar}^ 1819 ; Avhen Murray re- 
hearsed for the part of the Bailie, but, on a -hint 
from Scott, gave it up, looked out for some person 
master of the Scottish dialect and acquainted with 
Scottish manners, and found him in Mr. Charles 
Mackay, who had been a lifer in the band of the 
Argyleshire militia at the time when Mr. John 
Sinclair was bandmaster. On leaving the militia, 
Mackay went on the stage, singing between the 
pieces, and playing small parts. In Aberdeen he 
made such a hit in the Bailie, that Murray made 
him an offer to join the Edinburgh Theatre ; which 
he did, remaining there nearly thirty years, — until 
his retirement from the stage in 1818. Mackay, 
himself a native of Glasgow, gave the West-country 
dialect in its most racy perfection ; and Scott, after 
witnessing the performance, sent him an amusing 
letter of criticism and praise, enclosing a five-pound 
note to pay for the central place of the pit whenever 
Mackay should take a benefit, and signing, '' Jedediah 
Cleishbotham." Scott was so much interested, that 
he went behind the scenes to remind Murray that 
]\Iiss Nicol, who played Mattie, '-' must have a mantle 



276 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [l8l8 

with her lantern." On the night of his first seeing 
this play, he was accompanied by Mr. Ticknor, who 
wrote, " The box which Mr. Scott had taken was not 
far from the stage, so that it could be seen b}^ most 
of the house ; and his presence was evidently no- 
ticed and his features watched by many of the audi- 
ence, especially those in the pit near us. He protected 
himself a little from their attention, at first, by pla- 
cing himself behind a small pillar ; but, as the piece 
advanced, he became so much interested, that he 
leaned forward eagerly, and became very noticeable. 
Two or three times he objected to the details of 
Mackay's acting: but, upon the whole, he enjoyed 
it prodigiously, and, when it was over, said to me, 
' That's fine, sir ; that's very fine ; ' adding, with the 
peculiar Scotch look which he sometimes wore, — 
half sly, wholly humorous, — ' And all I wish is that 
Jedediah Cleishbotham could be here to enjoy it.' 
He evidently did not intend that I should doubt who 
wrote the novels." In two months, Murray made 
three thousand pounds by '^ Rob Roy," which was 
performed before George IV. during his visit to 
Scotland in 1822. When Scott acknowledged that 
he was sole author of the Waverley novels, he 
closed by drinking to Bailie Nicol Jar vie in the per- 
son of Mr. Mackay. 

Before he had concluded " Rob Roy," Scott entered 
into negotiations for producing a second series of 
" Tales of My Landlord," in four volumes, and, as 
by this time whatever he touched was converted 
into gold, obtained his own terms from Constable. 
He was able to pay back the four thousand pounds 
advance for which his good friend the Duke of Buc- 
cleugh had been bondsman, and to wind up the affairs 
of his publishing-house, by which his entire loss was 
about twelve thousand pounds. John Ballantyne 
opened auction-rooms in Edinburgh for the sale of 



^T. 47-] SCOTTISH REGALIA. 277 

books, pictures, antiquities, articles of virtu^ and 
other curiosities, — a business for which he was 
quaUfied, and which prospered beyond even his san- 
guine expectation. 

Early in 1818, Scott acted as a royal commis- 
sioner to examine the crown-room in the Castle of 
Edinburgh, and ascertain the fate of the long-lost 
Regalia of Scotland. The Act of Union, passed in 
1707, provided that the Regalia should never be re- 
moved from Scotland under an}^ pretext. Accord- 
ingly, they had been formally locked up in a strong 
chest, which was securely placed in a strong room. 
But there was a popular idea, that, though room and 
chest remained, the Regalia were not within them : 
so, with great ceremon}^ the sealed doors of iron and 
oak were opened ; and the chest, shut since 7th 
March, 1707, was broken open, and the ancient and 
beautiful Regalia — including the diadem, with the 
beautiful Sword of State presented by Pope Julius 
II. — were found, to the great joy of Scott and all 
true Scots. It was resolved to exhibit them, at a 
slight charge, in the Castle of Edinburgh ; and Capt. 
Adam Fergusson, Scott's school-fellow, was commis- 
sioned keeper of the Scottish Regalia, — the gallant 
custodian, after the manner of the time and place, 
exhibiting them by proxy. As might be expected, . 
Scott was deeply interested in this search for the Re- 
galia. He wrote an essay upon them, which is to be 
found in the collection of his prose works. 

At this time, while the new romance was in progress, 
Scott was also writing for " Blackwood's Magazine," 
then not long established, but already a powerful 
rival, not alone to Constable's monthly, but even to 
" The Edinburgh Review " itself. He was superin- 
tending the progress of Abbotsford, when the sudden 
death of his friend Mr. George Bullock, to whose 
talent and suggestion that edifice owed much, was a 
heavy blow to him. 



278 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i8i8 

In May, 1818, began that friendship between 
Scott and Lockhart which ended in inseparably con- 
necting their names together. At that time, Lock- 
hart was twenty-four years old. His father, cadet of 
an old country family, was a clergyman. After 
passing through Glasgow College, he graduated at 
the University of Oxford, taking what are called 
" first-class honors." Called to the Scottish bar at 
the age of twenty-two, it soon was seen that he pre- 
ferred literature to law. For public speaking, he had, 
if not actual incapacity, insuperable distaste. Capa- 
ble of the deepest personal affection, — as witness his 
life-long friendship for John Wilson, and his devotion 
to Walter Scott, — it was Lockhart's misfortune to be 
not merely cold, but even supercilious, in his manner. 
Silent and reserved, almost shy, in general society, 
he overflowed with fun among the few associates to 
whom he was attached. He did not often unbend 
out of that small circle, and then, for the most part, 
satire lurked amid the flowers which he produced ; 
and it was no consolation to those whom his keen 
and polished wit made uncomfortable or ridiculous 
that they had been smitten with a jewelled cimeter. 
Alison the historian, who knew him well, said, that, 
as a writer, he preferred exchanging thrusts with a 
court rapier to wielding the massy club of Hercules. 
Lady Wallace, who has rendered good service to 
English literature by her translations of German 
works, once said, '* Sir Walter always puts me in 
mind, in conversation, of his own description of 
Richard Coeur de Lion. He lets fall a massive club : 
Lockhart is Saladin, who flings around him a Da- 
mascus cimeter." Very soon after '' Blackwood's 
Magazine " was established, Lockhart became one of 
its principal contributors ; he and Wilson, in fact, 
writing about one -half of each number for many 
years. To the celebrated " Noctes Ambrosianse," 



^T. 47.] " THE CHALDEE MANUSCRIPT." 279 

suggested, if not commenced, by Dr. Maginn, much 
was contributed by Lockhart, even after he removed 
to London, when Wilson was the principal author. 
Lockhart's first independent work was " Peter's Let- 
ters to his Kinsfolk," — full of vigor, saucy satire, 
clever personal sketches, views of Scottish society, 
with criticism upon the leading literati, lawyers, 
artists, and philosophers. He was assisted in this by 
Wilson, but not largely. This work was introduced 
to the public in an unusual manner. A pretended 
" Translation from an Ancient Chaldee Manuscript," 
couched in biblical language, and divided into chap- 
ter and verse, which appeared in an early number of 
" Blackwood's Magazine " in 1817, was a sharp and 
amusing satire upon the leaders of the Whig party 
in Scotland, their especial organ, '' The Edinburgh 
Review," and Mr. Constable, its proprietor and pub- 
lisher. The Ettrick Shepherd had written some 
verses of this brochure^ which Lockhart and Wilson 
extended to four chapters. The satire was keen, 
personal, and intelligible. The outcry was at once 
raised by those who had been the hardest hit, that it 
was *' a ribald and profane parody upon the Bible." 
Greatly affrighted, the publisher cancelled the arti- 
cle, apologized in his next number for its appearance, 
was defendant in a legal suit or two for libel which 
it contained, and, in a short time, saw that the 
sensation thus created was a capital advertisement 
for his mag^azine, which, in a few months, began to 
refer to " The Chaldee Manuscript " as a publication 
of great cleverness and truth. From that moment, 
Wilson and Lockhart (the Leopard and the Scorpion 
of the parody) had great ascendency in " Black- 
wood," and, seeing how thin-skinned the Whigs 
were, resolved to give them personal satire to their 
hearts' content, and beyond. 

In " Blackwood's Magazine," early in 1819, ap- 



280 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i8l8 

peared a review, with extracts, of " Peter's Letters to 
his Kinsfolk ; being the Substance of some Familiar 
Communications concerning the Present State of 
Scotland, written during a late Visit to that Coun- 
try. Aberjstwith, 1 819." The review opened with a 
complaint, that though the title declared the work 
to be " sold by all booksellers, yet, strange to tell, a 
single copy is not to be found among all the biblio- 
poles of Edinburgh ; " and proceeded to state that it 
was a work in two volumes, written by one Dr. Peter 
Morris of Aberystwith, a small watering-place in the 
Welsh county of Cardigan. Copious extracts, select- 
ed so as to pique personal and political curiosity, were 
then given, relating to society in Glasgow as well as 
in Edinburgh. This pseudo-criticism excited atten- 
tion and alarm, and was continued in the next num- 
ber of the magazine, with further extracts, contain- 
ing sketches of three great Scottish lawyers, — John 
Clerk, George Cranstoun, and Francis Jeffrey, all of 
them friends of Walter Scott, and each in time a lord 
of session. 

This was in March, at which time not much of the 
work had been written : but in April appeared an 
announcement of " a second edition, corrected and en- 
larged, and illustrated with numerous portraits, etched 
and engraved by amateurs ; " three volumes octavo. 
This work was published in June, 1819, by Black- 
wood : and a new edition was soon called for ; the first 
had never been printed. The work exhibits Scottish 
society, and eminent Scotsmen, as they flourished half 
a century ago ; and, as Scott said, it would have been 
well if a similar work could be published every fifty 
years. The portraits, engraved on steel, are all good ; 
that of Scott particularly so. " Peter's Letters " have 
been so long out of print, that a perfect set is now 
rarely met with. 

Lockhart's subsequent productions in Scotland 



^T. 47.] " HEART OF MID-LOTHIAN." 281 

were, "Valerius," a Roman story; "Adam Blair," a 
powerful Scottish tale of passion, contrition, and atone- 
ment ; " Reginald Dalton," a story of English uni- 
versity life; "The History of Matthew Wald," a 
Scotch tale ; and " Ancient Spanish Ballads," a vol- 
ume of spirited translations. In 1826, he went to 
London to conduct "The Quarterly Review;" in 
performance of which duty he continued until 1853. 
His " Life of Sir Walter Scott " appeared in 1837- 
39. He married Sophia Scott in April, 1820 ; and 
his grand-daughter. Miss Monica Hope Scott, is now 
the sole heir to Abbotsford, for which Scott may be 
said to have paid with his life. Lockhart was as a 
son to Scott: however cold and reserved to others, 
he was affectionate and devoted to him. 

A casual meeting in May, 1818, at the table of a 
mutual friend, at which Lockhart sat next Scott, 
interested the older author in favor of the junior, who 
had not then won his spurs. German literature and 
literati, with which subjects Lockhart was well ac- 
quainted, drew them together. In a few days, Lock- 
hart was invited, by Scott's desire, to take his place in 
supplying the historical department of " The Edin- 
burgh Annual Register" for 1816 ; and, in the per- 
formance of this task-work, he often met Scott that 
summer. 

" The Heart of Mid-Lothian " was published in 
June, 1818 ; before which time, however, Lockhart 
and a few other favored persons heard that most 
striking portion of it, — the interview between Jeanie 
Deans, the Duke of Argyle, and Queen Caroline, in 
Richmond Park. James Ballantyne, who had mar- 
ried not long before (his wife was Mrs. Charles Dick- 
ens's aunt), gave a good, old-fashioned dinner, in his 
good, old-fashioned house, near his printing-office, 
while the new novel was going through the press. 
Scott, with his friends Erskine and Terry, were of the 



282 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [i8i8 

party ; and " the Great Unknown," who owed that 
title to his printer, remained until the name of the 
new novel was announced, and the health of the 
author of " Waverley" drank in a bumper: but, after 
he had retired, it was not difficult, over a finishing and 
mighty bowl of punch, for the remaining guests to 
persuade Ballantyne to produce the proof-sheets, and 
read a chapter out of the forthcoming story. As he 
read very well, though with a little pomposity, the 
effect was highly dramatic. 

" The Heart of Mid-Lothian" was better received, 
if possible, than any of its predecessors. It was 
founded on an incident like that of which Jeanie 
Deans was made the heroine. A poor girl named 
Helen Walker actually went to London on foot to 
solicit the pardon of her sister, which she obtained 
through the intervention of the Duke of Argyll. 
She walked back with it, arriving just in time to save 
her sister. Like Jeanie Deans, she had been told, 
that if on the trial she would declare that her sister, 
accused of child-murder, had given her the slightest 
intimation of her condition, the charge against her 
would fall to the ground ; but she refused to swear 
falsely, and her erring sister was condemned to a 
shameful death. To Scott belongs the credit of hav- 
ing mixed it up with the Porte us affair of 1736, and 
of having introduced Queen Caroline as the interven- 
ing medium of clemency. 

Sir Walter Scott's last action, in October, 1831, was 
to send from London, on the eve of his voj^age to 
Italy, an inscription for a modest pillar-monument, 
erected, at the proper cost of " the author of ' Wa- 
verley,' " over the remains of Helen Walker, who 
died in 1791, and was interred in the churchyard of 
Irongrey, near Dumfries. This inscription declares 
that Helen " practised in real life the virtues with 
which fiction has invested the imaginary character of 



^T. 47.] HANDSEL OF ABBOTSFORD. 283 

eleanie Deans ; refusing the slightest departure from 
veracity, even to save the life of a sister : she never- 
theless showed her kindness and fortitude in rescuing 
her from the severity of the law, at the expense of 
personal exertions which the time rendered as diffi- 
cult as the motive Avas laudable." 

It showed true genius, in the construction of " The 
Heart of Mid-Lothian," to resist the temptation of 
making Effie Deans — young, lovely, and unfortunate 
— the heroine of the story, and of putting her homely 
sister into that position. On the other hand, it 
is a pity that the story did not conclude with the 
marriage and happy settlement of Jeanie Deans in 
the manse at Roseneath. To make Sir George Staun- 
ton die by the hands of his own son, that semi-sav- 
age, almost spoils the story. Many of the characters 
are finely drawn, particularly Douce Davie, the stern 
father with the tender heart. 

Before this tale was finished, Scott had already 
half completed " The Bride of Lammermoor," which, 
with " The Legend of Montrose," Avas published by 
Constable in 1819 ; the first edition consisting, as 
then had become usual, of ten thousand copies. 

In the autumn of 1818, Lockhart and Wilson first 
were guests at Abbotsford, specially invited to be in- 
troduced to Lord Melville, who then had the disposal 
of most of the government patronage in Scotland. 
It was at this time that the handsel of Abbotsford, 
already mentioned, took place. Then, too, Lockhart 
first met that true-hearted, intelligent, humble friend 
of Scott, William Laidlaw. There was a house-heat- 
ing of Abbotsford, at the end of October, in honor 
of young Walter Scott having completed his seven- 
teenth year ; but neither Lockhart nor Wilson could 
wait for nor return to it. 

Before the close of 1818, Scott had written several 
articles for ''The Quarterly Review," "Blackwood's 



284 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1818 

Magazine," and " The Edinburgh." The first in " The 
Quarterly " was that generous notice, not so much 
of the fourth canto of " Childe Harold " as of the 
personal and poetical character of its noble author, 
which may be said to have turned the tide of pub- 
lic opinion in his favor. The contribution to " The 
Edinburgh " (the first in ten years) was upon a 
novel by Maturin, the Irish author. 

Before the year closed came a formal announce- 
ment from the Secretary of State for the Home De- 
partment, that the Prince Regent desired to confer 
upon Mr. Scott the rank of baronet : this had been 
privately communicated to him some months before. 
At that time, though Davy, the great chemist and 
natural philosopher, had been created baronet shortly 
before, the successful cultivators of science and liter- 
ature were generally passed over in the distribution 
of the titular honors, which cheaply acknowledge, 
though they cannot reward, eminent merit. In oar 
own time, to say nothing of numerous baronets and 
knights belonging to the intellectual ranks, we have 
seen peerages bestowed upon Macaulay, Monckton 
Milnes, and Bulwer-Lytton. Scott, though he was 
making at least ten thousand pounds a year over and 
above his large official income, would scarcely have 
accepted a title, which his sagacity readily foresaw 
would unavoidably induce increased expense of living ; 
but, just before the receipt of the Secretary of State's 
missive, he had heard of the sudden death of his 
brother-in-law in India, with the bequest of the re- 
version of his fortune to Mrs. Scott and her children. 
By the advice of the two men, the Duke of Buc- 
cleugh and Hugh Scott of Harden, whom he consid- 
ered in their respective characters of chief of his clan 
and head of his family, who thought that Sir Walter 
Scott would sound as well as Sir Humphry Davy, 
he accepted the title, which was not formally gazetted 



^T. 47.] SALE OF COPYRIGHTS. 285 

for fourteen months. He might well say, " It was an 
honor directly derived from the service of honor, and 
neither begged nor bought, as is the usual fashion." 

The year 1818 ended with something more solid 
than such honors. His son was about entering life as 
cavalry-officer, every step in that branch of the mili- 
tary service being very costly. Money was wanted 
for the completion of Abbotsford on an extended plan. 
New purchases of land were in view. Therefore he 
listened to a proposal to sell all his existing copyrights 
of the poems and novels to Constable the publisher for 
twelve thousand pounds ; the purchaser executing a 
bond not to disclose the authorship of " Waverley " 
during his life, under a penalty of two thousand 
pounds. 

The purchase-money was paid in bonds ; all of which 
not having been paid off prior to Constable's bank- 
ruptcy in 1826, the author of Waverley's interest in 
all the above copyrights legally reverted to him. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

nhe Bfaaek llhephert- — Deatt of BowJeMgh. — Airfhocahip by Dictation. — 
*^T1ie Slide ot LaoBenMor .»— Ste^ivnoir tte Planter. — *' Les^nd of 
MoBtroee.^— Walter 8c»tt in the Aimj.— -* Petra^ Letters to his Kinsfolk.'' 
— Dntk rf Ms Xoth»-.— '*lTaiiboe.'>— Rdseeea and Kowena.— ' The 
Moaaefeesy »— G^-dattobiKdE <rf Kenneqahair. — - The Abbot." — Mary. 

QaecBf^Seote -Fbrtxait bTLawtCDee. — Bust by Chantrey. — Receives a 

BaruMScy.— Mlas Seott manied to Loc^hart.— IGsb Sdseworth's Tribute. 

1819 S20. 

SCOTT was prevented from going to London, in 
the Easter vacation of 1S19, to receive his baro- 
netcy, bv a retnm of the grievous iUness which had 
prostrated him two years before. During the first 
attack, an incident occurred, very characteristic of 
the Ettrick Shepherd. Scott was suddenly attacked, 
while there was an evening-party at his house, at 
Edinburgh, with a cramp on the right side, which, 
he wrote to a friend, sent him to bed •• roaring like a 
bull-oaK.** From this party Hogg and James Ballan- 
tyne walked home together : and the latter said, •• I 
don't at all hke this illness of Scott's. I have often 
seen him look jaded of late, and am afraid it is 
serious.*' Hogg burst out with, -Hand your tongue, 
or 111 gar you measure your length on the pave- 
ment, you fause. down-heaited loon that you are ! 
Te daur to speak as if Scott was on his death-bed I It 
canna be ! it m ust not be ! I will not suffer you to 
speak that gate ! '' The sentiment was like that of 
Uncle Toby at the bedside of Le Fevre ; and. as the 
Shepherd spoke, his voice became suppressed with 
emotion. 

2S6 



^~. ^'-J FIR3T 5EBJOU5 ILL^■X55. 287 

On his partial recoverr on that occasion. Scott was 
ordered to the countnr. and put npon what he calied 
starvation-diet : and he had not whollv rec-overed np 
to 1819. when the news reached him that his excel- 
lent friend, Charles, fourth Duke of Bucclengh- who 
had gone to Portogal for the benefit of his health, 
had died at Lislx>n, leaving as his successor to titles 
and estates a bo v in his thirteenth year. — the pres- 
ent Duke of Buccleugh and Queensbeny. In the 
last leuer to Scott, wri^tten when aVjOut to embark 
at Portsmouth, the duke announced that he had be- 
gun to build a library at BowhilL his favorite resi- 
dence ; and had reserved a place for one picture over 
the chimney-piece, in which warm situation he pro- 
posed " to place the guardian of literature.** — a por- 
trait of Scott, with his dog ^laida introduced, to be 
painted by Raebum. It was 50c«n after he received 
this letter, and during the visit of Mr. George Tick- 
nor to Abbotsford. already mentioned, that Scott 
had the second severe attack, of which he wrote to 
Southey, '• K I had not the strength of a team of 
horses, I could never have fought through it, and 
through the heavy fire of medical artillery, sc-arce less 
exhausting: for bleeding, blistering. calomeL and 
ipecacuanha have gone on without int'Errniission ; 
while, during the agony of the spasms, landantmi be- 
came necessary in the most liberal doses, though incon- 
sistent with the general treatment- I did not lose 
my senses, t^ecause I resolvel to keep them : but I 
thought once or twice they would have gone over- 
board, top and top-gallant." After a struggle which 
lasted for a fortnight, he l>ecame better ; except in 
point of weakness, well. ^Lr. Gillies, who saw him 
ambling on a low Highland pony, sitting slanting on 
it as if unable to hold himself upright, and with his 
complexion changed from its usual healthy hue to an 
olive-brown, almost black, tinge, said he looked 



288 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1819 

nearly as ill as during his last malady in 1831. " The 
physicians tell me," Scott said to Gillies, '' that mere 
pain cannot kill ; but I am very sure that no other 
man would for over three months encounter the same 
pain that I have suffered, and livey 

Under contract to produce a third series of " Tales 
of My Landlord " by mid-summer, and scarcely able 
to hold a pen, he was compelled to dictate, — a pro- 
cess which Oliver Goldsmith once attempted, and 
found utterly impracticable. Scott, however, did it, 
as he reported to Constable, " easily and with com- 
fort." The pen was held for him by John Ballan- 
tyne and William Laidlaw ; the latter preferred, from 
his superior rapidity. No matter what his bodily pain, 
— and it was great, — Scott scarcely ever paused, 
but, after turning himself on his pillow with a groan 
of torment, usually continued the sentence in the 
same breath. " But," Mr. Lockhart saj^s, " when a 
dialogue of peculiar animation was in progress, spirit 
seemed to triumph altogether over matter : he arose 
from his couch, and walked up and down the room, 
raising and lowering his voice, and, as it were, acting 
the parts. It was in this fashion that Scott produced 
the far greater portion of ' The Bride of Lammer- 
moor,' the whole of ' The Legend of Montrose,' and 
almost the whole of ' Ivanhoe.' " 

One passage in " Ivanhoe," however, and that the 
finest, — being the dialogue in the thirty-ninth chap- 
ter, in which the Templar tempts Rebecca, and offers 
to forsake his Order if she will go with him to Pal- 
estine, where, on Mount Carmel, he would pitch the 
throne which his valor would win for her, and ex- 
change his long-desired baton for a sceptre, — a fac- 
simile of a single page of this passage, in the close, 
small writing of Scott, Avas lithographed. It does not 
show a single erasure or blot ; and, except an occa- 
sional full point, punctuation was wholly disregarded. 



^T. 48.] SLOW RECOVERY. 289 

Quotation-marks in the dialogue are accurately in- 
serted ; but not a solitary i is dotted. The size of 
the paper, such as Scott almost invariably used, is 
eleven by eight and a half inches. The whole, writ- 
ten solid, without a single break, consists of fifty- 
three lines, each averaging fifteen words, — making 
in all over two and a half of such printed pages as 
are given in the Household Edition of the Waverley 
novels. He considered three such pages a good day's 
work. 

When he could see visitors, he received Lockhart 
and John Ballantyne at Abbotsford ; read to them the 
translation of a German ballad ('' The Noble Mor- 
inger") he had turned into rhyme one day, when he 
was anxious to know whether his mind had been 
affected ; and, soon after his exertion, had another 
sharp recurrence of suffering. Lockhart wrote, "I 
can never forget the groans which, during that space, 
his agony extorted from him. Well knowing the 
iron strength of his resolution, to find him confessing 
its extremity by cries audible not only over the house, 
but even to a considerable distance from it, it may 
be supposed that this was sufficiently alarming to me." 
Next morning^ he would not hear of either of his 
guests leaving him, but took them a ride of twenty 
miles ; and the same occurred day after day, Scott 
merrily telling anecdotes as they went. He was so 
ill, notwithstanding, that, when Lockhart left Abbots- 
ford, it was with dark fears of its being his last visit. 

Long before this, James Ballantyne Avas proprietor 
and editor of " The Edinburgh Weekly Journal," in 
which he published at this time the brief character 
of the Duke of Buccleugh dictated by Scott, and now 
properly included in his miscellaneous prose works. 

When the law term began in May, Scott attended 
in his place in the Court of Session, but was unable 
to do so regularly ; nor did he attempt it for several 

19 



290 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1819 

weeks. In June, when the new " Tales of My Land- 
lord" appeared, the general impression was, it must 
be the last of his works, so ill did he look. 

Neither " The Bride of Lammermoor " nor " The 
Legend of Montrose " showed to the reader in any 
way that their author had been almost at death's 
door while composing them. After he rose from 
his sick-bed, and read " The Bride," he did not 
recollect one incident, character, or conversation, in 
it ; though he remembered the original incidents of 
the story, which, indeed, his mother used to relate 
with great effect. The story was literally founded 
on fact. Miss Janet Dalrymple, daughter of the first 
Earl of Stair, had engaged herself to Lord Ruther- 
ford without the knowledge of her parents, to whom 
he was not acceptable, either from his politics or his 
want of fortune. The lovers had broken a piece of 
gold together, and mutually pledged their troth in 
the most solemn manner, — the young lady invoking 
dreadful evils to happen to her if she should prove 
false. Her mother, an imperious woman, urged her 
to marry Mr. David Dunbar of Baldoon, in the county 
of Wigton. Lord Rutherford remonstrated ; but Lady. 
Stair sent him word that her daughter now retracted 
a vow which had not been sanctioned by her parents, 
and refused to fulfil her enrag^ement with him. Lord 
Rutherford was a man of too hig^h rank and too de- 
termined a character to be trifled with ; and Lady 
Stair had to sanction an interview with her daughter, 
taking care to be present, warmly arguing, on scrip- 
tural grounds, that her troth was null and void be- 
cause her father had not sanctioned it. The poor 
young lady spoke no word, but sat mute, pale, and 
motionless as • a statue. At her mother's stern com- 
mand, she handed back to her suitor the piece of gold 
which was the visible pledge of her troth. He re- 
ceived it, uttering maledictions on the mother as he 



JET. 48.] THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR. 291 

quitted the room ; and his last words to his unfortu- 
nate mistress were, " For you, madam, you Avill be 
a world's wonder ! " He went abroad, and never re- 
turned to Scotland. The marriage of Miss Dalrymple 
with Dunbar of Baldoon occurred in August, 1669 ; 
the lady being passive, silent, and sad. The bridal 
feast was followed by dancing. The bride and bride- 
groom retired as usual ; when, of a sudden, the most 
wild and piercing cries were heard from the nuptial 
chamber, on entering which the family and guests 
found the bridegroom lying across the threshold, 
dreadfully wounded, and streaming with blood. In 
a corner of the large fireplace, covered with only a 
single night-garment, which was dabbled in gore, the 
bride was found. She Avas insane : all she said was, 
" Take up your bonny bridegroom ! " She survived 
only a fortnight. 

Baldoon recovered from his wounds, but sternly 
refused to answer inquiries. He was killed by a fall 
from his horse about thirteen years after his ill- 
omened marriage. Family tradition ran, that it was 
not the bride w^ho stabbed him, but Lord Rutherford, 
the rejected lover, who had concealed himself in the 
chamber, and wreaked his vengeance on his successful 
rival. 

Since I began to write this book, a statement has 
been published, to the effect that the Earl of Selkirk, 
Avho holds the estate and is the representative of the 
family of Dunbar of Baldoon, had lately discovered 
among his papers the marriage contract of the bride 
of Lammermoor, signed by Janet Dalrymple, the 
bride ; James Dahymple, her father ; David Dun- 
bar, the bridegroom ; and Sir David Dunbar of Bal- 
doon, his father. The existence of this document 
was unknown, was unsuspected, when Scott wrote ; 
but it strengthens the tale. He increased the tragic 
effect by the death of the master of Ravenswood. 



292 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1819 

There is another tragedy connected Avith this story, 
which I iieard many years ago from Mr. J. Goodyear, 
the eminent English engraver. One illustration of 
" The Bride of Lammermoor," in the annotated edi- 
tion of the novels, represents Lucy Ashton restoring 
the piece of broken gold, the troth-pledge, to the 
master of Ravenswood. It was painted by Mr. F. P. 
StephanofP, whose wife, a very lovely lady, sat for 
the silent and heart-broken heroine. She threw into 
her face such a sad and hopeless expression, that Mr. 
Stephanoff, by the time he had transferred it to the 
canvas, had well-nigh lost his senses from constantly 
gazing at it ; and in fact was compelled, soon after, 
to be placed under restraint in a maison de saute. 
Even in the engraving executed by Mr. Goodyear, 
the peculiarly desolate expression I have mentioned 
is conveyed. In the picture it was terrible. 

" The Legend of Montrose " w^as a set-off, in many 
respects, to the deep tragedy of " The Bride." Its 
true hero was Dalgetty, the soldier of fortune, whose 
sword and service were at the disposal of the highest 
bidder. 

In the autumn of 1819, Scott's health became 
slowly re-established. At one time, however, in 
June, he really did despair of recovery ; called his 
children to his bed-side, and took leave of them with 
solemn tenderness. After giving them, one by one, 
such advice as suited their years and characters, he 
added, " For myself, my dears, I am unconscious of 
ever having done any man an injury, or omitted any 
fair opportunity of doing any man a benefit. I well 
know that no human life can appear otherwise than 
weak and filthy in the eyes of God ; but I rely on the 
merits and intercession of our Redeemer." He then 
laid his hand on their heads, and said, " God bless 
you ! Live so that you may all hope to meet each 
other in a better place hereafter. And now leave 



^T. 48.] THE CORNET OF HUSSARS. 293 

me, that I may turn my face to the wall." They 
obeyed him : but he presently fell into a deep sleep ; 
and when he awoke from it, after many hours, the 
crisis of extreme danger was felt by himself, and pro- 
nounced by his physician, to have been overcome. 
It seems as if, on that occasion, he had taken a new 
lease of life. 

In the following month, his eldest son became a 
cornet in the eighteenth Hussars, — by purchase, as 
usual. He wanted only a few months of eighteen 
years, was almost as tall as his father, and made a 
very handsome soldier, — athletic, active, and intelli- 
gent ; fond of mathematics, engineering, and all sorts 
of calculation ; clear-headed, good-tempered, affec- 
tionate, and steady ; an excellent horseman ; and — 
some recommendation for a British officer in these 
"piping times of peace" — a graceful and untirable 
dancer. As he was to join his regiment in Ireland, 
his father specially introduced him to Miss Edge worth 
and some other friends in that country. His own let- 
ters to the young man, frequent and kind, are exceed- 
ingly interesting ; and it is gratifying to see with what 
liberality he provided for his son's extra expenses, and 
how successfully he applied himself to win his confi- 
dence. The shrewd man of the world prevails all 
through ; and he took care to keep up the young sol- 
dier's interest in home by giving him details of cur- 
rent goings-on there. " Peter's Letters to his Kins- 
folk," which appeared that summer, highl}^ amused 
Scott ; and he must have been much gratified with 
Dr. Morris's account of a visit to Abbotsford (imagi- 
nary of course), and the admirable sketch of Scott 
himself which formed part of it. 

" Ivanhoe" was approaching its close in the winter 
of 1819 ; at which time political troubles, very sad some 
of them, had arisen out of the popular demand for 
parliamentary reform. Volunteer companies were 



294 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1820 

being formed to put down these demonstrations ; and 
Scott, a vehement and veteran partisan, took no small 
trouble to organize a brigade of sharp-shooters in 
Ettrick and Teviotdale. 

His uncle Dr. Rutherford, his excellent aunt Chris- 
tian, and his own mother, died within one week, be- 
fore the year closed. 

In the midst of this gloom, " Ivanhoe " was pub- 
blished. In England, where the scene was wholly 
placed, it instantly became more popular than any of 
the Scotch novels ; and a first edition of twelve thou- 
sand copies (actually thirty-six thousand volumes) 
went off with great rapidity. As usual, the hero was 
not Ivanhoe, who gave a title to the work, but the 
Black Knight, or even Locksley of merry Sherwood ; 
that is, lion-hearted Richard, or gallant Robin Hood. 
Rebecca the Jewess was greatly preferred to Rowena 
the stately blonde. It was a romance of chivalry ; 
and the entire change of locality and characters 
showed that the author, when he pleased, could take 
a far wider range than he had previously got credit 
for. As many readers oP '' The Old Curiosity Shop " 
found it difficult to pardon Dickens for the' death of 
Little Nell, so many of the admirers of '' Ivanhoe " 
regretted that the Saxon knight had not been 
mated to Rebeccca rather than to his own country- 
woman Rowena ; forgetting that, according to the 
prejudices existing, not only then, but for centuries 
after, a Christian knight, however his heart might 
have been touched, would not have been allowed to 
marry a Jewish maiden, hov/ever good and lovely. 

The publication of '^ Ivanhoe." marks the most bril- 
liant epoch in Scott's history, as the literary favorite 
of his contemporaries. With the novel ('' The Mon- 
astery ") which he next put forth, the immediate 
sale of these works began gradually to decline : and 
neither Constable nor Ballantvne had the moral cour- 



^T. 49.] " THE MONASTERY." 295 

age to tell him of it ; though his expenditure, already 
large, was increasing yearly, and his only capital was 
his imagination. At the same time, even the least pop- 
ular of his novels had a sale far exceeding that of 
any other author. His success had enlarged the field 
of fiction. 

The year 1820 opened with Scott's approval of 
Lockhart's suit for the hand of his eldest daughter, 
and his desire, as he disliked long engagements, that 
the marriage should take place in the spring. The 
betrothed did not object. He prepared, witliin a short 
distance of Abbotsford, a little cottage for the future 
residence of his daughter. He witnessed the procla- 
mation of King George the Fourth (who had suc- 
ceeded to the throne on his father's death) from that 
part of the Old Town where stood the beautiful 
Gothic Cross, now within the court of Abbotsford, 
but which was removed to widen the thoroughfare 
on the royal visit. Finally, he went to London early 
in March ; and, a few days after his departure, " The 
Monastery " was published. 

The old habit of mystification which had induced 
him to conceal the authorship of the Waverley 
novels, and to make Jedediah Cleishbotham, school- 
master at Gandercleugh, stand sponsor for three series 
of " Tales of My Landlord," induced him to have 
" Ivanhoe" ushered in by a new eidolon of his fancy, 
one Lawrence Templeton ; and, for the '' Monastery," 
brought into the field a retired military officer, ycleped 
Capt. Clutterbuck, of the village of Kennaquhair, 
with an introductory story of having received a visit 
from a Benedictine monk, who, with his assistance, 
discovered, or rather recovered, from the second 
monastery of St. Mary, at Kennaquhair, a leaden box, 
covering a porphyry case, containing what had been 
a human heart, and, on departure, handed him a bun- 
dle of manuscript memoirs relating to transactions 



296 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1820 

in Scotland during the sixteenth century. This in- 
troduction described, in Scott's best manner, the idle 
dilettanti life of a half-pay army-officer in a remote 
village, thrown, in default of books and society, into 
local antiquarianism, and at last arriving at the dignity 
of being consulted as a knowing cicerone when visitors 
required information. The sketch of the Benedictine 
is clear and sharp. This introduction resembles a 
magnificent vestibule, with Grecian or Italian archi- 
tecture, to a common-place country-house : it made 
the reader expect too much. Yet Scott's foot was on 
his native heather : for the ruined monastery of St. 
Mary, Kennaquhair, was his own beloved Melrose 
Abbey; and the leading action of the story was in 
the adjoining locality, which he knew so well from 
childhood. The story is deficient in interest. The 
White Lady of Avenel, who flits through it like a 
shadow, was imitated from the German : the episode 
of Sir Piercie Shafton, in which a bodldn is super- 
naturally produced to show that he was a tailor's son ; 
and the introduction of a treasured human heart at 
Melrose (which had been the place of deposit of the 
great Robert Bruce's heart), without any reference to 
it in the story, — showed a certain timidity, on the 
author's part, to deal with a very suggestive fact. 

'' The Abbot," published soon after " The Monas- 
tery," greatly surpassed as well as continued that ro- 
mance. It introduced Mary, Queen of Scots. Those 
who had accepted the accusations against her of light 
conduct, and even of deadlier crime, could scarcely 
avoid being charmed with the description of her loveli- 
nes-s and grace, and being touched by the narrative of 
her misfortunes and escape. The Abbot is not the hero 
of the tale, but either George Douglas, who enabled 
Mary to escape from Lochleven Castle, or Rowland 
Grseme, the orphan page, who is developed in the 
story into a brave knight, heir to honors and land, 



^T. 49] LAWRENCE AND CHANTREY. 297 

and fortunate in his wooing of a noble damsel. In 
his capacity of a page he attends the queen in her 
duress at Lochleven. Some known historical facts 
are worked up with great skill, particularly that in 
which Mary's abdication in favor of her son is forced 
from her by Ruthven and Lindesay on the part of 
the Scottish lords. The pen-portrait of Mary is 
drawn with a wondrously delicate yet truthful touch ; 
Scott's idea of Mary's character being, that his imagi- 
nation led him to doubt her guilt, while his reason 
forbade him to believe in her innocence. Constable's 
suggestion, that Queen Elizabeth should be brought 
into the next romance as a companion to Mary Stu- 
art, was acceded to. Scott's own wish was to call it 
" Cumnor Hall," after the ballad by Mickle, which 
suggested the introduction of Amy Robsart ; but, 
in further deference to his publisher's wishes, he 
adopted the more catching title of " Kenilworth." 
Another proposal, to write a romance entitled " The 
Armada," was under consideration for some time, but 
never acted upon. 

On his arrival in London in the spring of 1820, 
Scott was informed by Sir Thomas Lawrence, then a 
very distinguished artist, that the king wished for 
his portrait, to be placed among monarchs, statesmen, 
soldiers, leading authors, and men of science, his con- 
temporaries at home and abroad. The wish really 
being equivalent to a command, this portrait was 
painted. It represents Scott in his fiftieth year, and 
is not merely a fine work of art, but a fine resem- 
blance to the great author in his prime. It is in 
Windsor Castle. Chantrey the sculptor executed, at 
the same time, the well-known bust of Scott which is 
to be seen in Abbotsford. On this occasion, Scott 
first met Allan Cunningham, who was manager in 
Chantrey's establishment. " Honest Allan," as it 
became the fashion to call him, said something about 



298 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1820 

the pleasure he felt in touching the hand that had 
charmed him so much. Scott looked at it with one 
of his comic smiles, and said, " Ay, and a big brown 
hand it is ! " The natural expression of Scott's face, 
half grave, half humorous, has never been so well 
expressed as in this bust. Originally, Chantrey had 
made him serious, intending to convey merely a 
thoughtful look ; but his face brightened up so much 
in conversation, that this design was abandoned. The 
head of the clay-bust, cut off with a string, was 
placed a little on one side, and a few touches of the 
eyes and mouth given : so that, when Scott came for 
the third sitting, he smiled, and said, " Ay, ye're 
mair like yoursel' now ! Why, Mr. Chantrey, no witch 
of old ever performed such cantraps with clay as 
this ! " 

After Scott's baronetcy was officially announced, — 
and a good round sum for heralds and court fees 
was paid before that was done, — he had to attend 
the levee of his gracious and genial friend, the new 
monarch. Allan Cunningham, who had called to bid 
him farewell, found him in court-dress, preparing to 
kiss hands at the levee on being gazetted as Baronet. 
" He seemed any thing but at his ease," says Cun- 
ningham, " in that strange attire. He was like one in 
armor. The stiff cut of the coat, the large shining 
buttons and buckles, the lace ruffles, the queue, 
the sword, and the cocked hat, formed a picture at 
which I could not forbear smiling. He surveyed 
himself in the glass for a moment, and burst into a 
hearty laugh : ' O Allan,' he said, ' O Allan, what 
creatures we must make of ourselves in obedience 
to Madam Etiquette ! ' " 

George the Fourth, who seems to have had a warm 
regard for Scott, conferred the title on Scott without 
suggestion from any one. I have heard, that, when 
one of his ministers suggested that simple knighthood 



^T. 49] THE BARONETCY. 299 

would be sufiQcient, the reply was, "No; that is a 
mere personal compliment, conferred indiscrimi- 
nately : but Baronet is an hereditary title, and I hope 
that Walter Scott's descendants will retain it for cen- 
turies." At the levee^ when, as usual, the poet 
kissed the hand of the monarch, the latter said, in 
clear, loud voice, as if determined to be heard, " I 
shall always reflect with pleasure on Sir Walter Scott's 
having- been the first creation of my reign." As- 
suredly, whatever the defects in this monarch's per- 
sonal character, he had the rare faculty of height- 
ening a favor by a graceful and gracious manner of 
conferring it. 

Scott's letters to his family and friends at this 
time were lively and pleasant ; glancing only slight- 
ly, however, at the welcome which greeted him on 
all sides. He felt gratified, no doubt, when he was 
able to introduce " the long Cornet," his son, to the 
Duke of Wellington, at a friend's dinner-table, where 
he talked of war and Waterloo. One of his letters, 
written three days before he was gazetted, is ad- 
dressed, " For the Lady Scott of Abbotsford, to be." 
His confidence in Lockhart, who now was in the 
" Waverley " secret, was so great, that he desired Bal- 
lantyne to consult him on every doubt where Scott 
himself, if present, would be referred to. He wrote 
to " Willie " Laidlaw on affairs in Abbotsford ; and 
also to his daughter, the bride-elect, not glancing 
more at the coming event than to hint, " There is a 
certain veil of Flanders-lace floating in the wind for 
a certain occasion, from a certain god-mother; bixt 
that is more than a dead secret." 

Hurrying home as soon as he could to carry out 
the national and classical prejudice against marrying 
in i\Iay,* Scott reached Edinbiirghj ^^ccpmpanied by 

* The idea that May is an unlucky m,onth in which to be niarried pre- 



300 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1820 

his soldier-son, late in April, and, on the 29th of that 
month, gave Lockhart the hand of his daugher So- 
phia. This proved to be a well-assorted union. Lock- 
hart was twenty-six years old, and the bride not 
twenty-one. Without what is called loveliness, or 
even beauty, she was comely and well-formed, highly 
educated, intelligent, lively, and affectionate. From 
her mother — who did not conceal her gratification 
at being Lady Scott — she had inherited, it may be, a 
certain airy grace of manner, which was prevented, 
by the common sense she took from her father, from 
running into frivolity. It was thought, when the 
marriage took place, that Scott might have done bet- 
ter for his favorite child than give her to a briefless 
barrister. But he saw in Lockhart a man of old 
and respectable family, of the highest education and 
attainments, of acknowledged ability, of good habits, 
of polite if often frigid manners, and with great ten- 
derness and depth of affection underlying all the more 
obvious points in his character. The high position 
in the craft of literature which Lockhart won so 
soon and retained so long after his marriage was a 
practical illustration of the correct estimate which his 
father-in-law had formed of him. 

Mrs. Lockhart's married life was happy and pros- 
perous : the only shadows that clouded it were the 
deaths of children, and of her father, mother, and 
sister, and the misfortunes which made her father's 
latter years years of toil. Her husband most dearly 
loye4 hei% and cannot be said ever to have got the 
better of the deep sorrow caused by her death, 
which took place on the 17th May, 18^37. Miss 



vails nqt only in Scotland, but in many other parts of Europe; and was re- 
ceived in ancient Ronie, for Ovid mentions it in his Fa$ti. The Scottish 
adage is, — 

" From the marriage In May 
All the bairns die and decay.'* 



MT. 49.] MRS. LOCKHART. 301 

Edgeworth, in a letter to myself, dated Nov. 21, 1837, 
wrote, in reference to a message which my friend 
Wordsworth tlie poet had charged me to convey to 
her, '' The last time I met Mr. Wordsworth was at 
dinner at Lockhart's, in London. Alas, poor Mr. 
Lockhart ! dear Mrs. Lockhart ! His allusion to her 
in his ' Life of Sir Walter Scott ' is most delicately 
and beautifully done ; and every heart must go with 
him through the whole of that very interesting biog- 
raphy." 

The passage referred to by Miss Edgeworth ap- 
peared in the fifth volume of the first edition of the 
" Life," published in October, 1837, and runs thus : 
" Death has laid a heavy hand upon that circle, — as 
happy a circle, I believe, as ever met. Bright eyes 
now closed in dust, gay voices forever silenced, seem 
to haunt me as I write. With three exceptions, they 
are all gone ! Even since the last of these volumes 
was finished, she whom I may now sadly record as, 
next to Sir Walter himself, the chief ornament and 
delight of all those simple meetings, — she to whose 
love I owed my own place in them, — Scott's eldest 
daughter, the one of all his children, who, in counte- 
nance, mind, and manners, most resembled himself, 
and who indeed was as like him in all things as a 
gentle innocent woman can ever be to a great man, 
deeply tried and skilled in the struggles and perplexi- 
ties of active life, — she, too, is no more ! " 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Prosperity and Happiness. — Abbotsford Hospitality. — University Honors. — 
The Lockliarts at Chiefswood. — Dr. Wollaston and Sir Humphry Davy. — 
"Novelists' Library," — Archdeacon Williams.- Presidency of the Royal 
Society of Edinburgh. — " Kenihvorth" published. — Historical Pen-Por- 
traits. — Remarkable Anachronisms. — Royal Society of Literature. — Death 
of John Ballantyne. — Secret Charities. — Coronation of George IV. 

1820 — 1821. 

"YTT"ITH his worldly affairs apparently in the most 
VV prosperous condition; an hereditary dignity 
conferred upon him by his sovereign ; his dearest 
daughter married to the man whom she loved and he 
approved ; his pen at once productive and profitable ; 
his family relations in the happiest state ; troops of 
friends gathering around him ; '' love, honor, and obe- 
dience " tending upon him ; his writings becoming 
naturalized, through the skill of translators, into for- 
eign lands ; the trees which he had planted, and the 
mansion which he was building, rising before him ; Im- 
agination yielding up her richest treasures, as if at com- 
mand to the Slave of the Lamp in the Eastern story ; 
health entirely restored ; a highly intellectual and 
thoughtful nation proudly linking its honor with his 
name, and middle age scarcely reached as yet, — Sir 
Walter Scott, in the summer of 1820 and for five 
succeeding summers, was abundantly happ}^ If he 
could only have fixed the wheel of Fortune ! 

A month after his daughter's marriage, he pur- 
chased another accession to his territory, — at a too 
high price, he admitted : but Laidlaw thought '' it could 

802 



^T. 49.] ABBOTSFORD HOSPITALITY. 303 

be made worth the money ; " and, at all events, there 
Tvas the double consolation, that " it rounds the prop- 
erty off ver}^ handsomely." Throughout the sum- 
mer, then and in other years, was greatly tasked 
the capability of Abbotsford to accommodate many 
guests ; some of them old and valued friends ; some, 
i^ersons of distinction in literature, science, and socie- 
ty : some drawn from abroad to see the country which 
he had described so well ; and some, accepting the 
slightest hint as an invitation, quartering themselves 
upon him, with selfish and audacious curiosity, for 
several days at a time. I have heard it stated on good 
authority, that, when Abbotsford had literally become 
a " house of call," there were as many as sixteen 
ladies' maids in the house at one time ! Of course, 
the hospitality thus flagrantly abused was extremely 
costly. The numerous visitors rarely took the 
trouble of thinking, I dare say, at what an expendi- 
ture of intellectual power and industry this lavish 
rate of living had to be maintained. The estate sup- 
plied vegetables and fruit, with some other aliments, 
occasionally ; but the bills of butchers (called flesh- 
ers in Scotland), poulterers, millers, wine-merchants, 
and grocers, must have amounted to thrice the amount 
of his ofi&cial, which was the only assured, and per- 
manent, income. Scarcely any of the very wealthy 
nobility in England or Scotland kept open house like 
this : such of them as preserved game received their 
friends in the shooting-season and at Christmas. But, 
for their weeks, there were months of not less costly 
hospitality at Abbotsford. There^ at least, it was evi- 
dent that Poetry and Poverty were not twins. If he 
had never made a sixpence by his pen, but had lived, 
in town and country, upon the joint incomes of his 
clerkship and sheriffdom, and the interest of the 
money, which, from time to time, fell into his lap 
from the bequests of near relations, Scott might have 



304 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1820 

enjoyed life far more, if less quietly, than he did. 
But of course the impulse to write could not be re- 
pressed : for Genius aspires and creates; and with him, 
to use his own homely words, not to write would have 
been much the same as to put a kettle on the fire, 
and say, '' Kettle, don't boil ! " If he had inherited a 
moderate landed estate, he would have been an ad- 
mirable laird, — probably a justice of the peace, de- 
ciding petty village cases and feuds, mixing freely 
with his neighbors, hospitable within bounds, and, 
at all events, a great reader, and fond of collecting 
books and curiosities. 

In May, 1820, intimation was given to Sir Walter 
Scott, by the vice-chancellors of Oxford and Cam- 
bridge, that these universities respectively desired to 
confer upon him the honorary degrees of D.C.L. 
and LL.D. But it was necessary that he should 
attend each Commemoration (equivalent to our Com- 
mencement) in person ; and, as he never was able to 
do this, he never received these high public compli- 
ments. 

In was a great comfort to Scott that his daughter's 
marriage did not entirely separate her from him. For 
a few months that summer, she and Lockhart were 
guests at.Abbotsford: for, until their removal to Lon- 
don in 1826, they lived quietly in Edinburgh during 
the winter and spring ; spending each summer and 
autumn, as Scott wrote to his brother, in a nice little 
cottage in a glen belonging to the Abbotsford prop- 
erty, with a rivulet in front, and a grove of trees on 
the east side to keep away the cold wind. It was 
connected with Scott's own dwelling by a pleasant 
walk through the plantations. This place was called 
Chiefswood; and Scott, particularly when pressed 
with work and oppressed by guests, would walk or 
ride to it in the morning, to be out of the world, and 
write with ease and facility. On the estate of Ab- 



^T. 49.] VISITORS. 305 

botsford, too, were other places with friends in 
them, — Himtly Burn, where he had installed those 
old friends, Adam Fergusson and his sisters ; and 
Kaeside, in which he had placed William Laidlaw, 
his friend, factor (or land steward), and amanuensis, 
The intercourse between these four dwelling-places 
was constantly kept up ; and Laidlaw and his wife, 
whom some of Scott's high-born visitors looked down 
upon, — perhaps because, though intelligent and finely 
educated, they belonged, first and last, to the noble 
order of Scottish peasantry, — frequently had their 
place at Scott's table, and there were treated with 
consideration as marked as if they had coroneted 
chariots, with castles and acres of their own. Scott 
had none of the parvenu insolence of wealth which 
so much annoys the sensitive mind. His relative and 
neighbor, John Scott of Gala, was also on the most 
intimate terms at Abbotsford; as, indeed, were all 
the gentry in the district. As might be expected, 
his official brethren, the other clerks of the Court of 
Session, often ran out for a few days to Abbotsford 
in their vacation. The heads of the legal profession 
were frequent visitors also. From the south, and 
even from foreign countries (I have shown how 
highly he esteemed and how agreeably he entertained 
Americans at Abbotsford), came a throng of visitors 
of the highest rank, often with the most inquisitive 
curiosity to see the author who had delighted, 
touched, or instructed them. For seven years, Ab- 
botsford was the most visited private mansion in 
Europe. 

One day, soon after he received his title, Scott had 
a small gathering, which included Henry Mackenzie, 
then the patriarch of Scottish literature ; Dr. Wol- 
laston, the eminent physicist, who realized thirty thou- 
sand pounds by the discovery of a simple process for 
making platinum malleable ; and Sir Humphry Davy, 
20 



306 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1820 

the inventor of the safety-lamp. When Davy, who 
had a good deal of poetic feeling and expression, was 
explaining some scientific subject with an eloquence 
which might have been inspired by the genius loci, 
after Scott made the conversation alternate with anec- 
dotes of Dryden, Gay, and Pope, with brief quota- 
tions by way of illustration, William Laidlaw whis- 
pered, " Gude preserve us ! this is a very superior 
occasion ! Eh, sirs ! " he added, cocking his e3^e like a 
bird, " I wonder if Shakspeare and Bacon ever met 
to screw ilk other up ? " 

At that time, — it was fifty years since, — no ad- 
venturous speculator had broached the theory, that 
Bacon and Shakspeare were one and the same person ! 

Occasionally too, at this time, came the Ballan- 
tynes : James, — shrewd, solid, and inflated ; John, — 
gay, quaint, and, as a mimic and humorist, not sur- 
passed by Charles Mathews or Frederick Yates. 
Thither came Constable too, the great publisher, a 
power in the land, — adventurous, autocratic, ener- 
getic, and suggestive. It was said of George IV., 
that, at a certain period of the evening, he would 
astonish his guests by declaring that he had com- 
manded a cavalry regiment at Waterloo ; to whom, 
when appealed to as authority for such a statement, 
the Duke of Wellington would gravely answer, " So 
I have heard your Majesty say." In like manner, 
Constable, who had been allowed to give names to 
two of the Waverley novels which had obtained great 
success, was so elated, that, when in his high moods, 
he used to declare, with an asseveration rather strong- 
er than a friend's simple affirmation, " I am all but 
the author of the Waverley novels ! " 

In a ride with John Ballantyne, while " Kenil- 
worth " was jet in progress, Scott listened seriously 
to his project, broached long before, of writing bio- 
graphical notices to be prefixed to a new series, 



^T. 49.] THE NOVELISTS. 307 

Ballantyne's " Novelists' Library." The first volume 
appeared in February, 1821 ; but the series was ruined 
by the proprietor's death in the ensuing summer. 
This series, in the words of ''the trade," did not pay: 
the collection, necessarily bulky and costly, was 
printed in double columns and small type, in royal 
octavo size. The biographical prefaces sui^plied by 
Scott (and for which he refused payment) intro- 
duced the novels of Fielding, Smollett, Richardson, 
Sterne, Johnson, Goldsmith, Le Sage, Horace Wal- 
pole, Cumberland, Mrs. Radcliffe, Charles Johnstone, 
Clara Reeve, Charlotte Smith, and Robert Bage. 
The sketch of De Foe, as formerly stated, was written 
by Ballantyne himself, and is not the worst of the 
series now republished in " Scott's Miscellaneous 
Works." In these prefaces, the main biographical 
facts were nientioned ; but a vein of fine criticism on 
the subject of novel-writing in general runs through 
the whole. 

In this eventful year, Charles Scott, the second 
son, was sent to complete his education under Mr. 
Williams, Vicar of Lampeter in Wales (not far from 
Dr. Peter Morris's, Aberyswith), to qualify him for 
passing through the University of Oxford, as a pre- 
liminary to his future official employment in India. 
The vicar's success with Charles Scott led to the 
sons of several Scotch gentlemen of distinction being 
placed under his care ; and the result was Mr. Wil- 
liams's appointment, in 1824, as Rector of the New 
Edinburgh Academy. He had been contemporary 
with Lockhart at Oxford ; and, in his responsible 
occupation in Edinburgh, proved to be not only one 
of the best, accurate, and extensive scholars of his 
time, but also one of the most efficient teachers. He 
was made Archdeacon of Cardigan in 1833 ; and offi- 
ciated at Scott's interment in Dryburgh Abbey in 
September, 1832. 



308 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1821 

Surprise has been expressed at Sir Walter's being 
willing to trust his son to the peril of the Indian cli- 
mate. In the first place, however, it must be remem- 
bered, that Scott, master of an estate, which, owing to 
its cost, was very unproductive, had it not in his 
power, that property being settled on the elder son, 
as inheritor of the baronetcy, to provide for his 
other children, — except by life-assurance, which he 
strangely neglected until his Avorldly losses came ; in 
the next, as he wrote that very year to his brother 
Thomas, holding out strong hopes of procuring an 
East-Indian cadetship for one of his sons, " the cli- 
mate of India is now well understood, and those who 
attend to ordinary precautions live as in Britain." 
As it happened, Charles Scott did not go to India, 
but entered the diplomatic service, being so employed 
when Sir Walter visited Italy in 1831-32 ; and, after 
all, died in Persia at an early age. 

Honors pursue those who do not want them is an 
old saw which has truth for its basis. In November, 
1820, the Presidency of the Royal Society of Edin- 
burgh became vacant by the resignation of Sir James 
Hall (father of Capt. Basil Hall, the sailor-author) ; 
and the Fellows, though on all former occasions men 
of science had been elected to the chair, unanimously 
elected Sir Walter Scott : they expressed themselves 
desirous of being represented in letters as well as in 
science. From this time, Scott was greatly in request 
as chairman of public and social meetings. His 
geniality kept tlie company in good temper. 

" Kenil worth " appeared in January, 1821 ; and, 
however his own countrymen may have desired that 
he would again have touched Scottish soil, his Eng- 
lish readers at once took the story to their hearts. 
He had placed before them, with little exaggeration, 
" Good Queen Bess " and her court. Even Shak- 
speare himself, called " a halting fellow " by one of 



^T. 50.] ANACHRONISMS. 309 

the characters, flitted across the stage. Elizabeth, 
who was then forty-two years old, was flatteringly 
endowed with youth, grace, and personal beauty : 
her red hair Avas called auburn ; her bad temper was 
subdued into spirited energy ; and, though she had 
to swear a little, — the habit of the Tudor family, — 
it was done, as Bottom would have roared, "gently 
as any sucking dove." In this tale, as if a collection 
of national portraits had been subject to a panoramic 
movement, a great historic gallery of notables passed 
before the pulDlic. Scott had carefully collected the 
prominent traits of the illustrious men of the Eliza- 
bethan era from a variety of sources, and adroitly 
applied them so as to give individuality to his 
sketches. Next to Elizabeth and the Earl of Leices- 
ter, who are limned at full length, Sir Walter Ra- 
leigh, as we can imagine him in his early manhood, 
is most artistically drawn. Elizabeth is said, in her 
advanced years, to have cautioned a painter against 
putting the shadows into her face : Scott appears to 
have remembered this in his portrait of her. The 
story of " Kenil worth " is deeply tragic, and literally 
founded upon history and tradition. Amy Robsart 
is a charming heroine of romance ; though from 
the first, when she greets her husband in Cumnor 
Hall, the reader has an involuntary idea that hers 
must be 

" The doom 
Heaven gives its favorites, — an early tomb." 

It has been said, " Great Homer sometimes nods," 
and therefore perhaps Scott may be excused for some 
palpable mistakes he made in " Kenilworth," — in 
quoting passages from Shakspeare which were not 
written at the stated date of the story. Ehzabeth 
paid that visit to Lord Leicester in Kenilworth Cas- 
tle, so well described by Scott, in July, 1575 ; and 



310 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1821 

at that date we have Wayland Smith " singing a stave 
from a comedy which was then new, and was sup- 
posed, among the more favorable judges, to augur 
some genius on the part of the author." The quota- 
tion, a couplet put into the mouth of Caliban, occurs 
in " The Tempest," which was not acted until 1611. 
Queen Elizabeth quotes from "Troilus and Cressida," 
written only two years earlier. Walter Raleigh 
quotes the beautiful compliment to the maiden queen, 
the 

" Fair vestal throned by the west," 

uttered by Oberon in a " Midsummer - Night's 
Dream," not written until 1598, — thirty years later ! 
There seldom has been a greater anachronism than 
this, especially as, when Elizabeth was at Kenil- 
worth, William Shakspeare, born in 1564, was only 
eleven years old, and probably presenting in his own 
person the realit}^ described in the " Seven Ages," of 

*' The whining school-boy, with his satchel 
And shining morning face, creeping, like snail 
Unwillingly to school." 

However, Scott avoided the mistake committed by 
Schiller, the German poet, in his tragedy of " Mary 
Stuart," — of bringing Elizabeth and Mary together 
at Fotheringay ; the fact being, that they never met. 

Early in 1821, Sir Walter, in London on official 
business, was detained there nearly three months, 
and again was greatly courted. During his absence, 
Mrs. Lockhart had a son, John Hugh Lockhart, — • 
the •' Hugh Littlejohn " for whom the " Tales of a 
Grandfather " were written, but who died young. 
Sir Walter was consulted as to the establishment of a 
Royal Society of Literature, with ten pensionaries of 
the crown : his opinion was, " Let men of letters 



^T. 50.] GENEROUS ACTIONS. 811 

fight their own way with the public ; and let the 
Sovereign honor with his patronage those who are 
able to distinguish themselves, and alleviate by his 
bounty the distresses of such as, with acknowledged 
merit, may yet have been unfortunate in procuring 
independence." The Society was established, and 
still exists ; but the ten members who were pension- 
aries of the king, paid out of his civil list, were 
struck off, without notice or compensation, by his 
successor, 1830. 

The death of John Ballantyne in June, 1821, was 
a severe blow to Scott, a man of warm affections, who, 
with a full knowledge of the foibles of his friend's 
character, kindly cherished the recollection of its more 
amiable parts, and told Lockhart, as they walked 
home from the funeral, how " Jocund Johnny," hav- 
ing observed a poor divinity-student at his book-sale, 
said that he looked in ill health, which the young man 
acknowleds^ed with a sicrh. " Come," said Ballan- 
tyne, " I think I ken the secret of a sort of draft that 
would relieve you ; particularly," he added, handing 
him a check for five or ten pounds, — "particularly, 
my dear, if taken upon an empty stomach." 

Scott's own liberality was great. When his friend 
John Leyden went to India, Scott lent him a hun- 
dred and fifty pounds (never repaid) to defray ex- 
penses. When Thomas Campbell the poet, in his 
early struggles in London, knew not where to turn 
for money, Scott lent him fifty pounds. On both 
these occasions, he was not very prosperous himself. 
In Maturin's distress, Scott sent him fifty pounds 
unasked ; and the fact became known only through 
Maturin's own grateful disclosure. In fact, he was 
in the habit of doing these generous deeds, and would 
have "blushed to find it fame." Not long before his 
death, after he had somewhat recovered from the 
shock of Constable's failure and his own ruin, he 



312 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1821 

offered to place the sum of three hundred pounds, 
which he had by him, at the disposal of a literary 
friend, much his junior, Avho, he thought, might want 
it. At the same time he knew the value of money, 
and had no idea of idly wasting it in indiscriminate 
charity. Worth and want were always the " Open 
sesame " of his purse. So largely did he give, that 
he might have been designated "Relieving Officer of 
the Parish of Parnassus." 

The coronation of George IV., deferred for a 
twelvemonth on account of what was called " The 
Trial of Queen Caroline," took place on the 19th 
of July, 1821. This, the most gorgeous and costly 
pageant of the present century, drew Sir Walter 
Scott, the poet of princes, once more to London. In a 
letter written on the day after this ceremonial, which 
threw into the shade all scenes of similar magnificence, 
from the Field of the Cloth of Gold down to modern 
times, Scott gave a general sketch of what had 
taken place, and of his own impressions. This was 
published in Ballantyne's newspaper, and, though not 
included in Scott's prose miscellanies, has been prop- 
erly inserted in his biography by Lockhart, who also 
has added the following anecdote : " Missing his 
carriage, he had to return home on foot from West- 
minster after the banquet, — that is to say, between 
two and three o'clock in the morning, — when he and 
a young gentleman, his companion, found themselves 
locked in the crowd, somewhere near Whitehall ; and 
the bustle and tumult were such, that his friend was 
afraid some accident might happen to the lame limb. 
A space for the dignitaries was kept clear at that 
point by the Scots Greys. Sir Walter addressed a 
sergeant of this celebrated regiment, begging to be 
allowed to pass by him into the open ground in the 
middle of the street. The man answered, shortly, that 
his orders were strict ; that the thing was impossible. 



^T. 50.] BUST BY CHANTREY. 313 

While he was endeavoring to persuade the sergeant 
to relent, some new wave of turbulence approached 
from behind ; and his young companion exclaimed in 
a loud voice, ' Take care. Sir Walter Scott ! take 
care ! ' The stalwart dragoon, on hearing the name, 
said, ' What ! Sir Walter Scott ? he shall get through 
anyhow ! ' He then addressed the soldiers near him, 
' Make room, men, for Sir Walter Scott, our illus- 
trious countryman ! ' The men answered, ' Sir Wal- 
ter Scott ! God bless him ! ' and he was in a moment 
within the guarded line of safety." 

He had tried to induce the Ettrick Shepherd to 
accompany him to London on this occasion ; thinking, 
that if he wrote something about it, as he could write 
when " i' the vein," perhaps a little pension might 
be granted him. But Hogg, unable to forego the 
pleasure of attending at the Fair of St. Bos well, re- 
mained in Ettrick, and let his chance pass by forever. 

During this flying visit to London, Chantrey's bust 
of Scott was finished. The original, in marble, was 
presented to Scott in 1828, and is in Abbotsford. 
Casts taken from this bust were disposed of among 
the poet's most ardent friends. From one of these 
was made the mould which has supplied the world 
with the printed copies so generally known. 

At this time, Chantrey made a profile-sketch of 
Scott, which, drawn on stone by R. J. Lane, the 
author-artist, is very rare. It is before me now, this 
side-face ; and I doubt whether the general expres- 
sion, shrewd and thoughtful, with the eye fixed (I 
use his own words) " in listening mood," has ever 
been so correctly given. It was a pencil-sketch, evi- 
dently drawn in a few minutes, like that by Newton 
akeady mentioned. 



CHAPTER XX. 



Who wrote the Waverley Novels ?— Scott, Thomas Scott, Lord Kinedder, 
Lord Cranstoun, Dugald Stewart, Henry Mackenzie, Sit Adam Fergus- 
son, Mrs. Hamilton, Mrs. Brunton, Dr. Greenfield, Lord Byron? — Adol- 
phus's Letters to Kichard Heber. — Solution of the Mystery. 

1821. 

THE authorship of the Waverley novels, a matter 
of continuous speculation for many years, was 
assigned, by repute or conjecture, to various authors, 
male and female. 

1. To Sir Walter Scott, chiefly by his friends in 
Edinburgh, who recognized his conversational style, 
peculiar turns of expression, particular incidents ex- 
panded from anecdotes which they had heard him 
relate, and other internal evidence. The doubt was 
settled * on the 23d of February, 1827, when Scott 
publicly declared that he was '' the author, — the total 
and undivided author." 

2. It was whispered for many years, and probably 
believed by many, that Mr. Thomas Scott, elder 

* Whoever had any doubt upon the question, the Ettrick Shepherd had 
none. He received presentation-copies of the novels as they appeared, with 
"From the Author" on the fly-leaf of each. One day, when Scott had 
called upon him at his farm-house in Ettrick Forest (as it continues to be 
called, though nearly all the trees have disappeared), he turned to the 
bookshelf, on which stood the books nicely bound, and labelled "Scott's 
Novels." — " James," said the Shirra as he caught Hogg's eye upon him, 
■with a comic expression on his face, "you have o'er many letters here. 
Scots' Novels should not be spelled with a double t." — "I dinna ken," an- 
swered the Shepherd. " Scott's Novels they are marked there, and Scott's 
Novels I'd take my oath they are! Man, I'd own them if they were 
mine." 

314 



^T. 50.] THOMAS SCOTT. 315 

brother of Sir Walter, had a hand in the production 
of these novels. After '^ Waverley " had got into a 
third edition, in 1814, Sir Walter wrote to his brother 
in Canada, that there was a report that he (Thomas 
Scott) was the author; suggesting that he should 
write and send on a novel intermixinof his exuberant 
and natural humor with any incidents and descrip- 
tions of scenery he might see, particularly with char- 
acters, and traits of manners. This, to which W. S. 
" would give all the cobbling that is necessary," 
would probably be worth five hundred pounds. " You 
have more fun and descriptive talent than most peo- 
ple," Walter Scott wrote ; " and all that you want — 
i.e., the mere practice of composition — I can supply, 
or the Devil's in it. Keep this matter a dead secret, 
and look knowing when ' Waverley ' is spoken of^ 
In the joint article in " The Quarterly Review " in 
1817 by Erskine and Scott, a hint, that not the 
poet at Abbotsford, but his brother in Canada, might 
be "the Great Unknown," was thrown out, with 
the same intention of baffl.ing curiosity which sug- 
gested the composite critique itself. Many years 
later, on the publication of " Peveril of the Peak," 
the scene of which is partly in the Isle of Man, the 
rumor that Thomas Scott had at least largely helped 
his brother was revived ; sundry Edinburgh people 
remembering that he had resided in the Isle of Man 
for some time before he went to Canada, and sus- 
pecting that he had there picked up the materials 
which Sir Walter used in the storj?-. In 1831, in the 
final Introduction to " Peveril," it was stated that 
Thomas Scott, having access to the registers of the 
Isle of Man, had copied many of them, which he sub- 
jected to his brother's perusal. In these, which were 
probably lost in the course of a military life, the in- 
teresting and romantic story of William Christian 
especially struck Sir Walter's fancy. 



316 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1821 

3. William Erskine, afterwards Lord Kinedder, 
that most familiar friend, upon whose refined judg- 
ment and pure literary taste Scott mostly relied, was 
occasionally spoken of as a probable author of the 
novels ; but, though an admirable critic, he wrote very 
little, and died in 1822, — }' ears before the pen had 
fallen from the hand of the real author. 

4. George Cranstoun, who, like Erskine, finally 
reached the judicial bench, was thought capable of 
the authorship in question ; but this was a mere sus- 
picion. 

5. As previously mentioned. Miss Mitford heard 
and indignantly repudiated the idea that Dugald Stew- 
art, the Edinburgh philosopher, was the man. 

6. Henry Mackenzie, whose " Man of Feeling " 
was published in 1771 (the year of Scott's birth), was 
slightly suspected ; but a literary '* statute of limi- 
tations" would certainly be operative in his case. 

7. Capt. (afterwards Sir Adam) Fergusson, who 
was in the secret, would occasionally endeavor to 
look conscious when the novels were mentioned ; and 
on one occasion, when the wife of a Scotch judge 
closely pressed the real author, and named Fergusson 
as the probable person, Scott looked mysterious, kept 
silent, and sent her away with the impression that 
she had hit the mark. 

8. Mrs. Elizabeth Hamilton, a maiden lady, whose 
" Cottagers of Glenburnie," a clever novel of Scot- 
tish domestic life, was published in 1808, obtaining 
great popularity, was named, on the appearance 
of " Waverley" in 1814, as one of the persons who 
might have written it ; but her death in 1816 sup- 
plied an unanswerable negative. 

9. Mrs. Mary Brunton, whose serious novels, " Self- 
Control " and "Discipline," appeared in 1811-14, was 
another of the suspected ; but, as she died in 
1818, she, too, was out of the ring. 



^T. 50.] " THE GREAT UNKNOWN." 317 

10. A Dr. Greenfield, or Grenfield, who lived in 
Edinburgh while Scott's first and most successful 
poems were published, and who had to leave Scot- 
land under suspicion of a horrible crime (non nomi- 
natum apud Christianos)^ was spoken of in many 
publications as the actual author of the Waverley 
novels. He had written nothing to justify this im- 
pression of ability. Four authors of his name are 
chronicled by my friend Dr. Allibone. The only 
one who might correspond in time with him is Thom- 
as Greenfield, who published an octavo volume of 
" Epistles and Miscellaneous Poems, London, 1815." 
Mr. Egerton Smith, editor of a Liverpool news- 
paper (he is believed to have been the original of 
Mr. Pott of " The Eatanswill Gazette," immortalized 
in '^ The Pickwick Papers "), repeatedly declared that 
Greenfield, whom he located in the Isle of Man, 
was^ and that Walter Scott ivas not, the author of the 
Waverley novels ; and " The Eclectic Review," a 
periodical of the time, which had such able writers 
as Robert Hall and John Foster among its contribu- 
tors, solemnly declared at least once a year, from 
1814 to 1827, that Dr. Greenfield, and no other, was 
the man. 

Lastly, singular to say, even Lord Byron has been 
suspected of being " the Great Unknown." In one 
of his letters to Mr. Murray, his publisher. May, 
1817, occurs this passage : " ' The Tales of My 
Landlord ' I have read with great pleasure, and per- 
iectlj understand now why my sister and aunt are so 
very positive in the very erroneous persuasion that 
they must have been written by me. If you knew 
me as well as they do, you would have fallen, 
perhaps, into the same mistake. Some day or 
other, I will explain to you why, — when I have 
time : at present it does not much matter. But you 
must have thought this blunder of theirs very odd; 



318 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [182I 

and so did I till I had read the book." He referred 
to the first series of " The Tales," containing " The 
Black Dwarf" and "Old Mortality." 

In one of Scott's poems will be found an allu- 
sion to 

" Mystery half veiled and half revealed ; ** 

which precisely describes the effect of an 8vo volume, 
published in London in July, 1821, entitled " Letters 
to Richard Heber, Esq., containing Critical Remarks 
on the Series of Novels beginning with ' Waverley,' 
and an Attempt to ascertain their Author." The 
person to whom they were addressed was the well- 
known book-collector, who expended over two hun- 
dred thousand pounds in the purchase of books, of 
which he had considerable knowledge. He was 
brother of Reginald Heber the poet, afterwards 
Bishop of Calcutta, and then represented the Uni- 
versity of Oxford in the House of Commons. The 
author of the work on the authorship of the Waver- 
ley novels was Mr. John Leycester Adolphus, son of 
Mr. John Adolphus, author of an excellent history of 
England during the whole reign of George the 
Third, and of several other works, among which the 
best known is " The Life of John Bannister, Come- 
dian." The son, who was well acquainted with He- 
ber, was born in 1794, and informed me, in 1844, 
that a prize-poem, published at Oxford in 1814, and 
the volume on the Scotch novels, were " the only 
publications, amounting to independent works," of 
which he was the author ; but that subsequently, for 
many years, he was joint-editor, in conjunction, first 
with Mr. Barnewell, and next with Mr. Ellis, of '' The 
Term Reports of Decisions in the King's and 
Queen's Bench." He was a county-court judge 
from 1852 to his death in December, 1862 ; was dis- 
tinguished for his scholarship, genial wit, highly re- 



/ET. 50.] LETTERS OF ADOLPHUS, 319 

fined and sensitive mind and character. At the tim-e 
his " Waverley " book appeared, he was twenty-seven 
years old, and was not called to the bar until the fol- 
lowing year. 

After the publication of this able and entertaining 
volume. Sir Walter Scott was the revealed rather 
than the veiled magician. It was eagerly read by the 
public, as well as by his friends ; though, strange to 
say, it never went into a second edition, and is now 
very rare. Mr. Adolphus carried out, with equal del- 
icacy, courtesy, and success, his proof from internal 
evidence that the ''Waverley" series could have 
been written by no one except the author of " Mar- 
mion." Of coui^se, he had to consider the novels only 
up to " The Abbot " inclusive, — the latest published 
at the time he wrote. His reasons were characterized 
by remarkable ingenuity and acuteness. 

Mr. Adolphus reasoned, that, if the author of 
" Waverley " were any other than the author of " Mar- 
mion," it was astonishing that he should be able to 
remain concealed ; that to abandon his character of 
an established favorite, and pursue his fortune in dis- 
guise, was not without precedent, for Scott had anony- 
mously published ''The Bridal of Triermain" and 
" Harold the Dauntless," and afterwards put his name 
to them ; that the author of " Marmion " had neg- 
lected his poetical vein in proportion as the author 
of "Waverley" had cultivated his talent for prose 
narration ; that, though not a Highlander, he was 
evidently a Scotchman, a great part of whose life had 
been passed in the city or neighborhood of Edin- 
burgh ; that his mind was given, habitually as well as 
naturally, to the Muse of song ; that " The Bride of 
Lammermoor " is a tale which no man but a ]Doet could 
tell; that his prose narrative abounds in poetical 
imagery, thought, and expression ; that, as well as 
the poet, he was acquainted with the German and 



820 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1821 

Spanish languages and literature ; that he was a law- 
yer ; that he was fond of rural sports and manly exer- 
cise ; that he was particularly attached to the canine 
race, to horses and horsemanship ; that he described 
battles and marches with great effect and pleasure, 
without being a soldier ; that he moved in good soci- 
ety, and never made any personage recommended to 
the full esteem of the reader commit an unhandsome 
action, or utter a depraving sentiment ; and that 
the author of " Waverley " had made honorable men- 
tion in his writings of almost every distinguished con- 
temporary poet except the Minstrel of the Border, — 
that is, of Campbell, Byron, Crabbe, Hogg, Words- 
worth, Coleridge, Southey, and Joanna Baillie. The 
sole exceptions are four lines on the titlepage of " Guy 
Mannering " from " The Lay of the Last Minstrel," 
and a passage in the introduction to " The Monastery," 
where that poem is dryly, not to say ungraciously, al- 
luded to, but the writer is never mentioned by name. 
So in " Paul's Letters," also published anonymously, 
he is merely designated '' one of our Scottish men of 
rhyme ; " and in the preface to " The Bridal of Trier- 
main," which was fashioned and published so as to 
lead to the belief that William Erskine was the au- 
thor, Scott was merely mentioned as " one individ- 
ual," who had revived the popularity of romantic 
poetry with unparalleled success. 

None but Scott in one condition of authorship, it 
was shrewdly argued by Mr. Adolphus, could thus 
have ignored or slighted the existence of Scott in 
another. 

The various points of coincidence apparent in the 
characters and habits of these two eminent writers 
were thus glanced at : " Both are natives of Scotland ; 
both familiar from old with her romantic metropolis ; 
both Lowlanders, though accustomed to Highland 
manners and scenery ; both are poets ; both are 



^T. 50.] LETTERS TO HEBER. 821 

conversant with those parts of our national literature 
which contain the materials of British history ; and 
both enjoy, perhaps, more than an amateur's acquaint- 
ance with ancient classics. Both, if I mistake not, 
are lawyers by profession ; yet both equally delight in 
military subjects, and excel in martial descriptions 
and the. delineation of soldierly character. Both are 
evidently gentlemen, and frequenters of the best so- 
ciety. The novehst is a devoted antiquary ; so is the 
poet : ' Go to, then ; there's sympathy.' One is a bib- 
liomaniac ; the other reveres books : ' Ha, ha ! then 
there's more sympathy.' Each is a cultivator of Ger- 
man and Spanish hterature : ' Would you desire bet- 
ter sympathy ? ' * The same taste for every manly 
exercise and rural sport characterizes the versatile 
pair. I would warrant each well qualified to judge 

' Between two hawks, which flies the higher pitch ; 
Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth ; 
Between two blades, which bears the better temper; 
Between two horses, which doth bear him best ; 
Between two girls, which hath the merriest eye ; ' f 

though neither, I am sure, could add the protesta- 
tion, — 

' But in these nice sharp quillets of the law, 
Good faith, I am no wiser than a daw.' " 

A comparison of the author's various works follows, 
showing the coincidence in good morals and good sense, 
the latter particularly shown in the arrangement of 
character ; the manner of telling a short story, and the 
free use of Scotticisms ; the happy adaptation of dia- 
logue to character ; faults of dialogue as connected 
with character of speakers ; bookish air in conversation ; 



* Merry Wives of Windsor, act ii. sc. 1. 
t First'Part of Henry VI., act 11. sc. 4. 
21 



322 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1821 

historical personages alluding to their own celebrated 
acts and sayings ; occasional eloquence and tenderness ; 
simple conception and composition of description ; 
dramatic effect ; striking pictures of individuals ; fre- 
quency and beauty of similes ; real basis of all the 
stories ; scene laid in real places ; local peculiarities 
minutely attended to ; melodramatic turn ; theatrical 
introduction of lyrical pieces ; comparative unimpor- 
tanee of heroes ; frequent rejection by ladies, and union 
with others whom they had before slighted ; tender 
affection of fathers and daughters ; surprises and un- 
expected discoveries ; frequent recourse to the marvel- 
lous ; dreams well described ; living persons taken 
for spectres ; violent deaths of bad characters ; sim- 
ilar sources of information largely drawn upon ; 
similar incidents in poems and novels ; similarities of 
thought and language ; same authors quoted by both ; 
the anecdotes, legends, and incidents, in the notes 
appended to the poems, freely used as materials for 
the novels ; occasional employment of a phrase, verse, 
or sentence, from the Latin and French classics ; com- 
pliments to contemporary friends in the dedication 
of the Introductions to the '' Marmion ; " and high 
commendation, in the novels, of Wilkie and Allan 
Cunningham, Raeburn the painter and Chantrey the 
sculptor, Henry Mackenzie and Maria Edgeworth, 
Mrs. Hamilton and Mrs. Grant, Miss Ferrier and 
Chalmers, Graham of Aberfoil and John Ballantyne ; 
but no notice in any of his productions of the author 
of '' Waverley " by the author of " Marmion," either 
as an acquaintance or as an admired countryman and 
contemporary. The habit, common to both authors, 
of introducing an old-fashioned and quaint turn of ex- 
pression, — where the thoughts appear in a kind of 
masquerade dress, sometimes the garb of a remote 
age, sometimes an anomalous and merely fanciful 
costume, — was also observed by Mr. Adolphus, as 



JET. 50.] THE MYSTERY UNVEILED. 323 

well as the occasional inadvertent use of Scotticisms 
in the novels. 

Throughout the volume, each of the above points, 
with others which I need not mention, are set forth, 
not alone with assertion or argument, but with hun- 
dreds of illustrations, consisting of quotations from 
the writings of the authors of " Marmion " and 
"Waverley." In short, Mr. Adolphus proved his 
case. There was a secret which Sir Walter Scott 
had fairly challenged the world to penetrate, if 
possible. The materials out of which Mr. Adolphus 
read this riddle were lying in the full view of the 
world: he combined them as his own fancy, judg- 
ment, and good taste, guided him ; he got into the 
heart of the mystery, yet leaving the author as fully 
master of his secret as he was before. 

The volume concluded with this graceful perora- 
tion : "The unclaimed honors of the novelist must 
ultimately descend on some head ; and I would gladly 
see them rest on one which has already been adorned 
with v/reaths of literary triumph. There is a magnifi- 
cence in the thought, that all these noble fictions, in 
poetry and prose, are the vast and various creations 
of one genius, one versatile and energetic mind, such 
as our country, such as the world, has seldom seen 
disporting itself in works of imagination. And, if this 
mighty talent is to be discovered in a single mortal, 
there is none in whom I should so much rejoice to 
find it recognized as the ardent, the chivalrous, the 
tender, the stainless, the patriotic Minstrel of the 
Border. It is, I am well aware, an intrusion even 
to thrust greatness upon one who would decline it : 
but the zeal which is distasteful to him may meet 
with indulgence, and even with sympathy, from his 
admirers ; and you, I am sure, will pardon the mis- 
taken — if mistaken — enthusiasm which would invest 
your honored friend with the sovereignty of a two- 



324 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1821 

fold intellectual kingdom more valuable than Spain 
or the Indies." 

Sir Walter was so much pleased with the manner 
in which his right (for he kept back his claim') to the 
double sceptre was made clear, that he conveyed his 
thanks through Mr. Heber, with a cordial invitation 
from the author of " Marmion," that Mr. Adolphus 
would not revisit Scotland without reserving a day 
for Abbotsford. Accordingl}^, the visit was paid in 
1823 : and Scott took so kindly to his critic, or cham- 
pion, that it was several times repeated in following 
years ; indeed, he was among the ver}^ last friends 
whom Scott received in the autumn of 1831, imme- 
diately before leaving Scotland to proceed to Italy. 

It was impossible for Scott not to have taken no- 
tice of a book which personally and pleasantly related 
to himself. Accordingly, in the introduction to " The 
Fortunes of Nigel," some months later, he put these 
words into the mouth of the eidolon of " the author 
of ' Waverley : ' " " These letters to the Member for 
the University of Oxford show the wit, genius, and 
delicacy of the author, which I heartily Wish to see 
engaged on a subject of more importance ; and show, 
besides, that the preservation of my character of in- 
cognito has engaged early talent in the discussion of a 
curious question of evidence. But a cause, however 
ingeniously pleaded, is not therefore gained. You 
may remember the neatly-wrought chain of circum- 
stantial evidence, so artificially brought forward to 
prove Sir Philip Francis's title to 'The Letters of 
Junius,' seemed at first irrefragable ; yet the influ- 
ence of the reasoning has passed away, and Junius, 
in the general opinion, is as much unknown as ever. 
But on this subject I will not be soothed or pro- 
voked into saying one word more. To say who I am 
not would be one step towards saying who I am ; 
and as I desire not, any more than a certain Justice 



^T. 50.] ROXBURGH CLUB. 325 

of Peace mentioned by Slienstone, the noise or report 
such things make in the world, I shall continue to be 
silent on a subject, which, in my opinion, is very un- 
deserving the noise that has been made about it, and 
still more unworthy of the serious employment of 
such ingenuity as has been displayed by the young 
letter-writer." 

Thenceforth Scott wore his mask loosely. In 
1823, a French gentleman asked him to accept some 
champagne in exchange for a set of his works ; which 
was sent on, the novels inclusive. 

Almost coincident with this was the election of 
the author of " Waverley " to occupy a vacant chair 
in the Roxburgh Club (a bibliomaniac social con- 
federation of a particularly exclusive character) ; his 
promise to occupy the said chair as locum tenens, if 
the author did not appear in person ; and, in the 
correspondence which took place, a certain careless- 
ness in the manner of expressing himself, which was 
the result of his having no secret, after the able 
elucidation by Mr. Adolphus. 

In treating of what w^hen I was a school-boy, and 
long after, was a great literary mystery, I have not 
been too diffuse, I hope. The subject, it appears to 
me, even after the lapse of all these years, is not want- 
ing in interest even yet ; and indeed, considering how 
secretive Scott was in his literary matters, the firm- 
ness with which he endeavored to protect all his little 
stratagems of authorship and publication from public 
view must be considered as exhibiting one peculiari- 
ty of idiosyncrasy in a very decided manner. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Lady Scott and Tom Purdie. — Progress of Abbotsford. — Constable's Great 
Projects. — "The Pirate." — Further Sale of Copyrights. — Julian Young. 

— Scott's''Nonseuse-Books." — Dedication of "'Cain."- A Book of Dramas. 

— "Fortunes of Nigel." — Melrose Abbey repaired. — Royal Visit. — Sir 
Walter's Knights. — Mons Meg. — Scottish Peerages restored. — "■ Pev- 
eril of the Peak." — " Quentin Durward." — Roxburgh Club. — Death of 
Thomas Scott.— Visit of Mr. Adolphus. — " St. Ronan's Well." — "Red- 
gauntlet."— Death of Lord Byron. — Marriage of Capt. Scott. — "Tales of 
the Crusaders." — Life of Napoleon begun. 

1821 — 1825. 

TWO persons greatly enjoyed the title which 
Scott had received from his sovereign. The 
first was the Lady of Abbotsford, who was fond of 
society, show, and splendor, and was more proud, it is 
said, of her husband's official rank as Sheriff of Sel- 
kirkshire, than of his far more lucrative station as a 
principal clerk of session, or of his fame as an author. 
The other was Tom Purdie, who used to speak of 
his master's " bulks " as if, like trees, they were pro- 
duced from seeds, and flourished most in fair weather ! 
Mr. Lockhart has told how, the morning after the 
news of Scott's baronetcy reached Abbotsford, Tom 
was not to be found in any of his usual haunts : he 
remained absent the whole day ; and, when he re- 
turned at night, the mystery was thus explained : He 
and the head shepherd (who, by the by, was also 
butcher in ordinary), Robert Hogg (a brother of the 
Bard of Ettrick), had been spending the day on the 
hill, busily employed in prefixing a large S. for Sir to 
the W. S. which previously appeared on the backs of 

326 



^T. 50.] " THE PIRATE." 327 

the sheep. It was afterwards found that honest Tom 
had taken it upon him to order a mason to carve a 
similar honorable augmentation on the stones which 
marked the line of division between his master's 
moor and that of the Laird of Kippilaw. 

The summer of 1821 passed happily in work, 
which is pleasure to well-regulated minds, — work 
material and intellectual : for Sir Walter had brought 
with him from London the final and detailed plans 
of Mr. Atkinson, the architect, for the completion of 
the mansion of Abbotsford ; and a new romance, 
" The Pirate," was also in progress, and went on at 
the rate of a chapter a day when he could take or 
make time to write ; for then, and for years after- 
wards, he was literally overrun with visitors, who 
taxed his personal attention very heavily. Most of 
*' The Pirate " was written at Chiefswood, within 
hail of Abbotsford, but as secluded, when they 
wished, as if Lockhart and his wife occupied a log- 
cabin in the Far West. One of Scott's guests at this 
time, for some weeks, was his old friend William 
Erskine, on whose refined taste he had always relied, 
and to whom, in this particular instance, page after 
page was handed as it was written, to be read aloud 
by him to Mr. and Mrs. Lockhart. Inasmuch as 
Erskine was Sheriff of Orkney and Zetland, and, from 
having often visited the isles, could correct any mis- 
takes of locality, — likely enough to occur, as seven 
years had passed since Scott's voyage with the 
Northern Lighthouse Board, — he was of especial 
use to his friend on this occasion. As was his wont, 
Scott was occupied with other work while writing 
" The Pirate." He edited two or three curious 
books ; wrote some of the biographical notices for 
Ballantyne's " Novelists' Library ; " and took into con- 
sideration a proposal from Constable to edit a " Select 
Library of English Poetry," with prefaces and nptes, 



328 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1821 

and another collection of English novels, each series 
to contain twentj-five volumes, to be completed in 
two years, with a payment of six thousand pounds to 
Scott. Neither of these proposals was acted upon ; 
but Scott varied his labors by writing a series of 
" Private Letters," supposed to have been discovered 
among the papers of a noble English family, and 
giving a picture of manners in town and country early 
in the reign of James the First. These were sent to 
the press as fast as they were written. Mr. Lock- 
hart says, " He furnished the margin with a run- 
ning commentary of notes, drawn up in the character 
of a disappointed chaplain, a keen Whig, or rather 
Radical, overflowing on all occasions with spleen 
against monarchy and aristocracy. When the print- 
ing had reached the seventy-second page, however, 
he was told candidly by Erskine, by James Ballan- 
tyne, and also by myself, that, however clever his 
imitation of the epistolary style of the period in ques- 
tion, he was throwing away in these letters the mate- 
rials of as good a romance as he had ever penned ; 
and, a few days afterwards, he said to me, patting 
Sibyl's neck till she danced under him, ' You were 
all quite right : if the letters had passed for genuine, 
they would have found favor with only a few musty 
antiquaries ; and, if the joke were detected, there was 
not story enough to carry it off. I shall burn the 
sheets, and give you bonnie King Jamie and all his tail 
in the old shape, as soon as I can get Capt. Goffe 
within view of the gallows.' " Such was the origin 
of " The Fortunes of Nigel." One set of these un- 
completed letters having been preserved, Mr. Lock- 
hart printed a long extract from it in the " Life." 
It is a clumsy imitation of the quaint language and 
spelling of a period when Shakspeare was still alive. 
For example, take this, the first sentence in the 
extract : ** Towching this new mishappe of Sir 



^T. 50.] " NIGEL " BEGUN. 329 

Thomas, whereof your Lordshippe makes querie of 
me, I wolde hartilie that I could, truth and my 
bounden dutie alweys firste satisfied, make such an- 
swer as were fuUie pleasaunte to me to write, or unto 
your Lordshipe to reade." This sort of writing, which 
is not easy or pleasant to read in the original, is in- 
tolerable when imitated : it involves great labor as 
far as the author is concerned, and the result is 
rarely satisfactory to the reader. 

With his usual promptitude, having decided not to 
proceed with this fictitious correspondence, and " The 
Pirate" being completed, Scott began "The For- 
tunes of Nigel," and, one fine autumn day, came out 
bareheaded to Lockhart and Terry, who were spend- 
ing the day with him, and handed them "a bunch of 
manuscript " to read, saying that he had launched 
the keel of a new lugger that morning, and would 
wish to hear how they liked it. They were struck 
with the thorough air of London life in this first chap- 
ter, which was in complete contrast with a chapter 
about Noma of the Fitful Head, in the third volume 
of " The Pirate," which they had read the morning 
before. 

" The Pirate," published in December, 1821, was 
well received, like every work of fiction, at that time, 
from the same hand ; though the intense interest 
which the early novels, up to " Rob Roy " and '' Ivan- 
hoe," had created, had greatly subsided. In this tale, 
Scott relied even more than usual upon his descrip- 
tions of scenery and local manners. The story is 
essentially melodramatic ; and it can scarcely be said 
that Noma of the Fitful Head was a felicitous crea- 
tion : indeed, she seemed to be only a new variety of 
the tall, gaunt, awe-imposing old crone who did 
yeoman's service as Meg Merrilies in '' Guy Manner- 
ing," as Meg Murdickson in "The Heart of Mid- 
Lothian," as Urfried in " Ivanhoe," and as Magdalen 



330 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1821 

Graeme in " The Abbot." Magnus Troil, however, 
was a new creation ; Minna and Brencla Troil, so 
charmingly contrasted, can never cease to interest ; 
and Cleveland, the sea-rover, really is the proper 
hero of the story, from first to last, contrary to Scott's 
ordinary habit. New ground was broken in " The 
Pirate ; " and its author had the advantage of sketch- 
ing, not from imagination, but memory, the peculi- 
arities of society as it might have existed at the 
beginning of the last century in the melancholy is- 
lands of the Ultima Thule. Some of the lyrics in 
this tale are poetic gems, equal to the most success- 
ful performances of Moore and Byron. 

I have already mentioned, that, at the close of 1818, 
Scott had sold all of his copyrights, to the third se- 
ries of " Tales of My Landlord " inclusive, for twelve 
thousand pounds. The year 1821 closed with the 
sale of " Ivanhoe," " The Monastery," " The Abbot," 
and " Kenilworth," for five thousand two hundred 
and fifty pounds. By these, the fruits of two years' 
labor, Scott had already cleared ten thousand pounds. 
He had a right to expect, when, some months before, 
he began the larger division of his building at Abbots- 
ford, that, in a couple of years, he could realize thirty 
thousand pounds by new works. Before " The For- 
tunes of Nigel " appeared (May, 1822), Scott had sold 
four works of fiction, each of at least three volumes, 
and received Constable's bills or notes for them ! At 
that time, not a page of any of these had been writ- 
ten, and each work was unnamed ; yet within two 
years, as we shall see, ail of them were produced, — 
being " Peveril of the Peak," " Quentin Durward," 
" St. Ronan's Well," and " Redgauntlet." Unfortu- 
nately, Scott's belief that he wrote best when he 
wrote against time was not justified by these pro- 
ductions. 

Mr. Julian Young, then in his seventeenth year, 



^ET. 50.] JULIAN young's notes. 331 

visited Abbotsford in the autumn of 1821 with his 
father, the late C. M. Young, the last great actor of 
the Kemble school and times. In a memoir of his 
father, recently published, with extracts from his own 
journal, he gives some particulars. The first glimpse 
of the great author was through a window: his hand 
was " glibly gliding " over the pages of his paper. 
" It was not long," Mr. Young continues, " before 
we heard the eager tread of a stamping heel resound- 
ing through the corridor ; and in another second the 
door was flung open, and in limped Scott himself. 
. . . His light-blue waggish eye, sheltered, almost 
covered, by its overhanging pent-house of straw-col- 
ored, bushy brows ; his scant, sandy-colored hair; the 
Shakspearian length of his upper lip ; his towering 
Pisgah of a forehead, which gave elevation and dig- 
nity to a physiognomy otherwise deficient in both ; his 
abrupt movements ; the mingled humor, urbanity, and 
benevolence of his smile, — all recur to me with star- 
tling reality. . . . He looked like a yeoman of the bet- 
ter class ; but his manners bespoke the ease, self-posses- 
sion, and courtesy of a high-bred gentleman. Nothing 
could exceed the winning cordiality of his welcome. 
After wringing my father's hand,* he laid his own 
gently on my shoulders, and asked my Christian name. 
As soon as he heard it, he exclaimed with emphasis, 
'Why ! whom is he called after ? ' — ' It is a fancy name 



* Mr. Young the tragedian, one of the ablest and best educated mem- 
bers of the profession, had long been on intimate terms with Scott, who, as 
early as 1803, wrote to the Marchioness of Abercorn, describing him as a valu- 
able' addition to the society of Edinburgh; and, down to the end of Scott's life, 
Mr. Young was never in the North without visiting him. In 1808, sundry 
responsible gentlemen fond of the drama, desiring to place the Edinburgh 
theatre under proper and permanent management, purchased shares in the 
property, and looked out for a desirable lessee. Scott wrote to Young, sug- 
gesting that he should consider the matter ; adding, that he himself had prom- 
ised to support Mrs. Siddon's son or nephew, but did not think either would 
be the man. In the following year, Mr. Henry Siddons became lessee; a,nd, 
after his death, his widow was lessee, with her brother, Mr. W. H. Murray, 
another of Scott's friends, as manager, for many years. 



332 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1822 

in memoriam of his mother, compounded of her two 
names, " Julia Ann." ' — 'Well, it would be a capital 
name for a novel, I must say.' This circumstance 
would be too trivial to mention, were it not, that, in 
the very next novel that appeared b}^ the author of 
' Waverley,' the hero's name was Julian. I allude, of 
course, to ' Peveril of the Peak.' " 

Lady Scott, it is said, had not much sympathy with 
her husband's intellectual pursuits ; though she keen- 
ly enjoyed the comforts, elegances, luxuries, and dis- 
tinction which they brought. Mr. Julian Young says, 
that on the first day, at lunch, his father had been 
admiring the proportions of the dining-room, and the 
fashion of its ceiling. Lady Scott, observing his head 
uplifted and his eyes directed towards it, exclaimed 
in her peculiar foreign accent, " Ah ! Mr. Young, you 
may look up at the bosses on the ceiling as long as 
you like : but you must not look down at my poor 
carpet ; for I am ashamed of it. I must get Scott to 
write some more of his nonsense-books, and buy me a 
new one." This grated on Mr. Young's ears, he says. 
Much depends on the manner in which a thing is said, 
— on voice, gesture, glance. Scott being present, it 
may charitably be accepted as lively badinage. Per- 
haps the lady wanted a carpet. Every one knows 
how important carpets and hangings are to a good 
housewife. 

William Erskine was promoted to a seat on the 
bench of the Court of Session in January, 1822, 
but died in August following. This was a heavy 
blow to Scott, who tenderly loved even the weak- 
ness of his habits and character. He successfully 
used his interest with Sir Robert Peel to have his 
daughters placed on the pension-list. 

Early in 1822, every one was reading " Cain, a 
Mystery," dedicated to Sir Walter Scott, who wrote 
of it to Murray as a " grand and tremendous drama," 



^T. 51.] scott's dramas. 333 

and accepted the dedication " with feelings of great 
obligation." He added, " I maybe partial to it, and 
you will allow I have cause ; but I do not know that 
his Muse has ever taken so lofty a flight amid her for- 
mer soarings. He has certainly matched Milton on 
his own ground. Some part of the language is bold, 
and may shock one class of readers, whose tone will 
be adopted by others out of affection or envy. But 
then they must condemn ' The Paradise Lost ' if they 
have a mind to be consistent. The fiend-like reason- 
ing and bold blasphemy of the Fiend and of his pupil 
lead exactly to the point which was to be expected, — 
the commission of the first murder, and the ruin and 
despair of the perpetrator." Byron himself, in the 
preface, had justified the poem, saying, "With regard 
to the language of Lucifer, it was difficult for me to 
make him talk like a clergyman on the same sub- 
jects." In a letter from Byron, acknowledging 
Scott's letter of acceptance, he complimented Mrs. 
Lockhart's recent maternity ; adding a wish, " that 
Sir Walter might live to see as many novel Scotts as 
there are Scott's novels." 

Among Sir Walter's works is a volume of dra- 
mas, — little read. It contains the translation of 
" Goetz von Berlichingen," published in 1799 ; " The 
House of Aspen," written at the same early period, 
but not printed until 1830, when it appeared in '' The 
Keepsake ; " " The Doom of Devorgoil," founded on 
an old Scottish tradition, written for Mr. Terry, to be 
produced on the London stage, but not published until 
1830, when it appeared with " Auchindrane, or the 
Ayrshire Tragedy," founded on one of Pitcairn's Crim- 
inal Trials ; " Halidon Hill," from Scottish history, 
in which a gallant Swinton, one of his own mater- 
nal ancestors, figures handsomely (as he previously 
had done in the pages of Froissart) ; and " Mac- 
duffs Cross," a short sketch in blank verse, written for 



334 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1822 

a volume of original miscellaneous poetry which 
Joanna Baillie was getting up for the benefit of a 
Scotch gentleman who- had been unfortunate in mer- 
cantile business in London. " Halidon Hill" was 
written on two rainy mornings ; and, on hearing of 
without seeing a line of it, Mr. Constable offered a 
thousand pounds for the copyright. Five thousand 
dollars for the work of two mornings ! Not without 
cause had Scott once said, that, whenever he chose, 
he could get as much money as he wanted from the 
publishers. 

Constable, who was in London in May, 1822, when 
" The Fortunes of Nigel" was published, wrote to Sir 
Walter, telling him that the bales of volumes were 
got out of the vessel which brought them from Edin- 
burgh by one o'clock in the morning ; and that, before 
half- past ten that same forenoon, seven thousand 
copies had been dispersed from the premises of his 
agents in Cheapside. He was so well satisfied with 
" Halidon Hill," that he asked Scott to give him a 
similar production every three months, and suggested 
" Bannockburn " (already used in " The Lord of the 
Isles,") as the next subject and title ; also a battle of 
Hastings, Cressy, Bosworth Field, and many more." 
He forgot that Shakspeare had been on the latter 
ground with Richard and Richmond. At this time, 
too, there appeared a volume consisting of the poet- 
ry, original songs, mottoes, and other morceaux^ scat- 
tered through the novels from " Waverley "to " The 
Pirate." A first edition of five thousand was speed- 
ily exhausted. At that time, Ballantyne had printed, 
or was printing, of Scott's various works, a hun- 
dred and forty-five thousand copies, which used up 
seven thousand seven hundred and seventy-two 
reams of paper ; and, within a year, from thirty thou- 
sand to forty thousand volumes from the same pro- 
lific mind were printed. It would have been 



^T. 51.] ^ "FORTUNES OF NIGEL." 33-5 

scarcely wonderful if author, publisher, and printer 
had lost their balance amid such unsurpassed popu- 
larity as this. 

It can scarcely be conceded that Scott was suc- 
cessful in filling out the character of the nominal 
hero of " The Fortunes of Nigel," who, sooth to 
say, is but a sorry nobleman " of the period." Nei- 
ther did he make much of George Heriot, founder 
of the splendid institution which has perpetuated his 
name in Edinburgh. But King James is one of 
the best drawn of his numerous historical portraits. 
We see him in public and in private, pedantic and 
mean, with scarcely a thought above self. Prince 
Charles and the Duke of Bucldngham merely 
pass across the stage. Moniplies, Nigel's servant, 
is a new edition, revised and corrected, of Andrew 
Fairservice, in "Rob Roy." Among the courtiers, 
the old Earl of Huntington is almost the only gen- 
tleman. Honest John Christie, of Paul's Wharf, 
who was " cursed in a fair wife," bears his wrongs 
with dignity. The Alsatian scenes are admirable and 
new ; at least in prose fiction, though not in some 
of the old plays. For a heroine, Margaret Ramsay 
is far above the average ; though, according to Scott's 
favorite practice, she dons the attire of a page for 
some little time. 

While this authorship was proceeding. Cornet Scott 
was in Germany, with the intention of studying the 
art of war, seeing the country, and studying the lan- 
guage. Miss Edgeworth, who had promised to visit 
Abbotsford that summer, was prevented by the death 
of a relation ; but Scott told her, that next year, 
" when his house would be completed, his library 
replaced, his armory new furnished, his piper new- 
clothed, and his family around him, she must visit 
him in pity, and remain for a month or two." The 
young Duke of Buccleugh (he was only sixteen years 



836 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1822 

old then), hearing that the progress of deca}^ and neg- 
lect threatened to destroy the ruins of Melrose Abbey, 
so strongly expressed a desire to check it, that his 
guardians acquiesced. Who but the poet whose 
song had spread its name throughout the world, and 
caused thousands and tens of thousands from all 
lands to admire it, — who more fit to say what re- 
pairs were needed ? Much was done, at no small ex- 
pense, with care and skill ; and Melrose Abbey was 
made safe for perhaps another century. 

At this time, Sir Walter had every hour of his 
time occupied ; and, the intended visit of George the 
Fourth to Scotland having been announced, the au- 
thorities of Edinburgh threw upon Scott the whole 
trouble of arranging the reception and entertainment. 

Wilkie, the Scotch painter, who thought that he 
could find a subject for his pencil in this visit, reached 
Edinburgh some days before the king, who was the 
first prince of the Guelphic line (with the exception 
of the Duke of Cumberland, or " the Butcher," who 
defeated the Young Chevalier at CuUoden) who was 
known to have touched the soil of Scotland. The 
feeling among the Scottish liberals, during what was 
called the Queen's Trial, had been very strong 
against the king. However, she was dead ; and the 
. natural " let by - ganes be by - ganes " prevailed. 
Scott's personal influence, no doubt, greatly helped to 
smooth down all asperities, political and personal. 
Having the highest respect for the Clans, he took 
care that the Highlanders should occupy a command- 
ing situation in the programme of every public cere- 
monial ; and claymore and philibeg, dirk and pistol, 
bagpipes and tartan, became the order of the day. 

This is not the story of King George's life ; and 
therefore I shall only say, that the royal fleet arrived 
in the roads of Leith (the harbor of Edinburgh) on 
Aug. 14, 1822 ; that, owing to unfavorable weather, 



^T. 51.] ROYALTY IN EDINBURGH. 337 

the landing had to be deferred until next day ; that 
Sir Walter, taking a boat, was rowed out to the royal 
3^acht, and was greeted with " Sir Walter Scott ! — 
the man in Scotland I most wish to see ; " that, on 
the quarter-deck, he presented the king with a St. 
Andrew Cross, in silver, from the ladies of Edin- 
burgh, and was detained to dinner ; that, the next 
day (Aug. 15, on which Scott completed his fifty- 
first year), the king, wearing a field-marshal's uni- 
form and the order of the Thistle, landed, and 
proceeded to Holyrood, the palace of the Scottish 
sovereigns when they resided in or visited Edin- 
burgh, amid salvos of artillery from the stately 
Castle ; that Wilkie sketched the scene at the mo- 
ment of the king's entrance into the palace, intro- 
ducing Scott into the brilliant group in his capacity 
of Bard ; that at the levee^ where the king wore kilt 
and hose, he paid particular attention to Lady Scott 
and family ; that, during his residence in Scotland, 
his Majesty was the guest of the boy-duke of Buc- 
cleugh at Dalkeith Palace, six miles distant from 
the city ; that his dinner-party almost daily included 
Sir Walter ; that, on Sunday, he attended divine 
service in St. Giles's Church, where, the " poor's 
plate " not having been presented to him through 
some petty error, he yet sent a dole of a hundred 
guineas ; that on this or some other occasion, see- 
ing how well-conducted and respectably-attired the 
populace were, he asked, " Where's the mob ? " and 
emphatically exclaimed, ^' The Scotch are a nation 
of gentlemen ! " that there were state visits to the 
Castle, and to the theatre, where " Rob Roy " was 
represented, having been commanded by the king ; 
that the magistrates of Edinburgh gave him a grand 
banquet in the Parliament House, Sir Walter pre- 
siding at one of the tables; that in the act of 
proposing the health of Mr. Arbuthnot, the chief 

22 



338 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1822 

magistrate, be conferred a title on him by speaking of 
him as " Sir William Arbuthnot, baronet," and then 
gave, " The Chieftains and Clans of Scotland," and 
" Prosperity to the Land of Cakes ; " that the king 
embarked, to quit Scotland, on the 29th of August, and 
at the last moment, acting upon a request of Scott's, 
knighted his two friends, Adam Fergusson, Keeper 
of the Regalia, and Henry Raeburn, R.A., the painter. 
On the eve of the king's departure, Mr. Peel, Home 
Secretary, addressed a letter to Sir Walter, personally 
returning thanks to him in the warmest terms for all 
that he had done to insure the success of all the ar- 
rangements, and, through him, to the Highlanders 
and heads of Clans, whose " ardent spirit of loyalty " 
was graciously acknowledged. On the king's return 
to London, he was received by Mr. Wilson Croker, 
Secretary of the Admiralty, whose first words were 
" all about our friend Scott." If, as once was con- 
templated, the king had returned by land, it was 
almost certain that he would have paused at Abbots- 
ford for a short time. 

One particular favor Sir Walter personally solicited, 
and obtained from the king, was the restoration of a 
gigantic (and useless) piece of ordnance called Mons 
Meg, which had been removed from Edinburgh Castle 
to the Tower of London after the Jacobite campaign 
of 1745. As usual, this matter had to pass through 
the circumlocution-office ; but the gun was restored 
in 1829, during the ministry of the Duke of Welling- 
ton, — a gentleman like the centurion, who, when he 
said " Do it," insisted on its being done without de- 
lay. I perceive by an entry in Scott's diary, dated 
March 9, 1829, that under an escort of the Celtic 
club, a Highland regiment, dragoons, and artillery- 
men, Mons ^leg was restored to its old place on the 
Argyle battery. This large cannon, weighing seven 
or eight tons, was taken up the Castle Hill in a grand 



^T. 5I-J "PEVERIL OF THE PEAK." 339 

procession. " Six smaller guns," Scott wrote, '' would 
have been made at the same expense, and done six 
times as much execution as she could have done." 

Another and far more important event, also for- 
warded by, if not springing out of, the king's visit, 
w^as suggested and strongly solicited by Sir Walter 
Scott. This was the restoration of the Scottish peer- 
ages forfeited in consequence of the insurrections of 
1715 and 1745. The appeal to the crown in this 
matter was written by Scott, who adroitly intro- 
duced as a precedent the reversal of the attainder 
of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, the Irish rebel, — under- 
stood to have been the personal act of the king, — not 
long before, and Avhich had elicited from Lord Byron 
a sonnet, highly complimentary, ending with these 
lines : — 

" For thus 
Thy sovereignty would g:row but more complete : 
A despot thou, and yet thy people free, 
And by the heart, not hand, enslaving us." 

The appeal was not made in vain ; for, not long after, 
the forfeited Scottish peerages were restored. 

In November, 1822, Abbotsford was entirely roofed 
in ; and Scott's frequent letters to Terry and others 
are crowded with details of the progress of its orna- 
mentation and fitting up. His health was frail ; for 
he had had a slight seizure of apoplexy, which he 
hinted to one of his correspondents might be visible, 
he feared, in the fourth volume of " Peveril of the 
Peak," just completed. A large portion of " Quen- 
tin Durward" was written before the close of the 
year ; and a new contract had been made, and Con- 
stable's bills received, for another unnamed '' work of 
fiction." The last of any importance which the ener- 
getic bibliopole was to have from him was " Wood- 
stock," not published until 1826. 



340 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1823 

It is scarcely necessary to mention here that the 
popularity of the Waverley novels was as great at 
least in the United States as in " the old country." 
Forty or fifty years ago, however, foreign authors lit- 
erally had no market for their productions in this 
country : at this moment they look to it for reputation 
and remuneration, and are the recipients of liberal 
shares of both. Carlyle was appreciated here as an 
original thinker when he was regarded in England 
only as a writer of strangely- worded articles in mag- 
azines and reviews. These articles, first collected 
here, were greeted with hearty approbation, the echo 
of which was heard in England. There was an eager 
desire in Scott's time to obtain early copies of his 
novels ; but there was no desire to pay him well for 
them. One of Ballantyne's workmen was suspected 
of playing foul, and sending proof-sheets to America 
" for a con-si-de-ra-tion " (as old Trapbois would have 
said) ; and, after this, almost as much care was taken 
as if Bank-of-England notes, not a romance, were 
passing througli the press. The name of '' Peveril" 
was kept secret, and appeared only on the title-page. 

" Peveril of the Peak " appeared in January, 18:^3. 
The fault of the story is, that it is spread over too ex- 
tended a period, and that its dramatis personoe. are 
needlessly numerous. Charles II. and James II. ; 
Catherine of Braganza, Henrietta Maria, and Prince 
Rupert ; Lords Rochester, Shaftesbmy, Buckingham, 
and Arlington ; Nell Gwynne, and other mistresses of 
" Old Rowley," Sir Geoffrey Hudson, the dwarf, and 
that wretched Titus Oates ; the Queen of Man and 
her son, with a crowd of other characters, — fill the 
pages. The attempt of Col. Blood to steal the crown 
jewels from the Tower of London is an integral por- 
tion of the plot. Sir Walter expected much from 
Fenella, the pretended dumb girl ; and owned that he 
took the idea of such a being from the fine sketch of 



^T- 52.] " QUENTIN DURWARD." 341 

jNIignon in Willielm Meister's " Lehrjahre," but did 
not succeed in realizing his ideal. After all, Scott 
suffered only when his later were compared with his 
earlier novels. As yet, 

" Within that circle, none durst walk but he.** 

In his next novel, new ground was broken ; for the 
scene went back to the close of the fifteenth century, 
when Louis XI. was King of France, and Charles 
the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, his nominal vassal, was 
intent on converting his coronet into a royal diadem. 
" Quentin Durward" cost Scott more trouble than 
any other three of the novels ; for he had to " read 
up " for it, to take care that he made no mistake in 
historical facts, dates, characters, manners, descrip- 
tions, aud incidents. In one of his letters to Con- 
stable, he bitterly complained that the village of 
Plessis les Tours, though famous in history, was not 
to be found in any map, provincial or general, which 
he had consulted. He drew largely from Philip de 
Comines, the gossiping annalist of the time ; and 
the contrast between the king and the duke is not 
only striking and full of interest, but also generally 
correct. The introduction, which makes the reader 
acquainted with that fine old French gentleman, the 
Marquis de Hautlieu, and that veritable Caleb Bal- 
derstone. La Jeunesse, valet and factotum, is a de- 
lightful piece of geny^e pen-painting in Washington 
Irving's easiest manner. By the way, there is high 
eulogy in this introduction of " An Itinerar}^ of Pro- 
vence and the Rhine, made during the year 1819," 
by John Hughes, A.M., of Oriel College, Oxford. 
This author, " the Buller of Brazenose " of the 
" Noctes Ambrosianse," son of one of Scott's old 
English friends, was father of Mr. Thomas Hughes, 
M.P., whose " Tom Brown at Rugby " is, perhaps, 



342 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1823 

the most extensively read juvenile book of the pres- 
ent century. 

In France, the reception of " Quentin Durward " 
was most enthusiastic ; for, at that time, the historical 
novel was almost unknown in the literature of that 
country. Half a dozen translations were made, and 
the fidelity of the character-sketches was at once ad- 
mitted. The interest, the excitement, thus created, 
had its effect in England, Avhere Scott's popularity 
had been waning: and " Quentin Durward " was soon 
admitted to its proper place among the novels ; that 
is, next to " Ivanhoe " and " Kenilworth." 

It was about this time, as I have already stated, that 
Sir Walter was elected member of the Roxburgh 
Club, or rather locum tenens for the author of '' Wa- 
verley." He was also elected to membership in 
" The Club," established at the Turk's Head, Lon- 
don, in 1764, by Dr. Johnson, Edmund Burke, and 
Sir Joshua Reynolds. He became connected, too, 
with the Royal Academy, by being chosen its Professor 
of Ancient History. He founded the Bannatyne 
Club for the publication of works illustrative of Scot- 
tish history and antiquities, and presided at its annual 
dinners from 1823 to 1831. Previously, as may be 
remembered, he had been elected President of the 
Royal Society ; and was chairman of an oil-gas com- 
pany, and at no small expense for apparatus, and 
thousands of feet of delicate pipes, lighted Abbots- 
ford with gas, which, however, did not always work 
well. 

In the spring of 1823, the death of Mr. Thomas 
Scott took place in Canada. Miss Edge worth and 
two of her sisters visited Abbotsford in the summer, 
and remained, not the month or two for which Sir 
Walter had stipulated, but a fortnight. He made 
another contract with Constable, by which he 
disposed of his property in " The Pirate," " Nigel," 



^T. 52.] " ST. ronan's well." 343 

" Peveril," and " Quentin Durward," for five thou- 
sand guineas. He wrote " The Essay of Romance " 
for tlie supplement to "The Encyclopsedia Bri- 
tannica," and commenced " St. Ronan's Well." 
Both of his sons were with him in the summer, — 
the soldier from Germany, the student from Wales. 
Mr. Adolphus, who so completely, but with gentle 
hand, had raised the veil from the authorship of the 
novels, paid his first of four visits, and was charmed, 
like all others, as much by the naturalness as the 
genius of his host, the dramatic skill with which 
he put his anecdotes into action, and (what Byron 
had observed long before) the intelligence which 
lighted his countenance when he recited poetry, and 
its varying expression as the subject was grave or 
gay, humorous or tragic. He was struck, too, by the 
delighted attention with " which he followed the 
fine old songs which his daughter sang to her harp, 
with his mind, eyes, and lips, almost as if joining in 
an act of religion." 

" St. Ronan's Well " appeared in December, 1823. 
Its author again had set foot on Scottish ground. 
There is no doubt that Gilsland, where he had 
wooed and won Charlotte Carpenter twenty -five 
years back, was the actual locality of the new 
story. The good folks of Innerleithen fancying, 
however, that their little ville was in Scott's mind, 
dropped the old and proper name of that place, and 
adopted that of St. Ronan's. There is one genuine 
Scottish character, however, — that of Mrs. Margaret 
Dods, innkeeper at old St. Ronan's, — worthy of 
the author's genius. Clara Mowbray is powerfully 
sketched ; and Peregrine Touchwood, the inquisitive 
and well-meaning traveller, is also thoroughly origi- 
nal. In the drama founded on the tale, Mr. Murray 
made this a very telling part ; and Mackay was an 
excellent Meg Dods. When Mackay had his benefit, 



344 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1824 

the drama of " St. Ronan's Well " was performed. 
Scott, by this time, had become so careless as to 
his '' Waverley " secret, that he wrote an epilogue, 
which Mackay spoke in character. It is to be found 
only in the latest collective editions of Scott's 
poems, is in the six-line metre which Burns made so 
popular, and was crowded with local and personal 
allusions, which, in their day, were probably con- 
sidered amusing. A single stanza will suffice as a 
specimen : — 

" But whar's the gude Tolbooth * gane now ? 
Whar's the auld Claught wi' red and blue ? 
Whar's Jamie Lang? and whar's John Doo? 

And whar's the Weigh-House V 
Dell hae't ! I see but what is new, 

Except the playhouse." 

" Redgauntlet," originally entitled '' Herries," but 
changed on the remonstrance of Constable and 
Ballantyne, begun immediately after '' St. Ronan's 
Well," was completed, and was published in June, 
1824. It presented, as at the date of 1770, Prince 
Charles Edward, who had so gallantly figured in 
"Waverley," — the same; but, oh, how changed! 
Twenty-five years of misfortune, baffled hopes, and 
miserable self-indulgence, had changed the spirited 
Young Chevalier of 1745 into a broken and prema- 
turely aged man. Scott took advantage of these 
facts, — first, that the Chevalier really had visited 
England some years after the failure of his enterprise 
at Culloden ; next, that Miss Walkinshaw, his mis- 
tress, was suspected, on strong grounds, of betraying 

* The Tolbooth was the Heart of ]\Iid-Lothian ; the Claught was a 
name fur the ancient Town Guard; John Doo, or Dhu, was a terrific-look- 
ing member of this Guard; the Weigh-House, in the Lawnmarket, which it 
encumbered, was taken down to make way for the roj^al procession to the 
Castle, which took place on the 22d August, 1822; and Jamie Lang, at the 
head of the police, was a terror to evil-doers in Edinburgh. 



^T. 53.] DEATH OF BYRON. 845 

his secrets to the British Government ; and lastly, 
that when his adherents remonstrated with him, and 
begged him to dismiss her, he positively refused, de- 
claring, that, though he neither loved nor esteemed 
her, he would not be dictated to. On this, his party 
intimated that they would no longer peril their lives 
by serving a man so infatuated and weak. The 
sketch of Prince Charles, in this story, is impressive 
and able. Wandering Willie (who, in a powerful 
tale of diablerie^ tells how Sir Robert Redgauntlet's 
]3iper paid his rent, and whither he went for the re- 
ceipt), unfortunate Nan tie Ewart, that wreck of a 
noble heart, and, above all, poor Peter Peebles, that 
most unfortunate litigant in the Scottish courts, are 
oriq-inal characters of the hio^hest merit. Darsie Lati- 
mer, the hero, does not rise above the ordinary level ; 
nor does his friend Alan Fairford take hig^her rank: 
but they were di^awn from Scott's friend Clerk, and 
from Scott himself ; and the elder Fairford is a read- 
ily-to-be-recognized portrait of Sir Walter's own 
father. In Green -mantle, too, there may be a rem- 
iniscence of the author's first love. The scenes on 
the Solway are spirited and faithful. A story, how- 
ever, is rarely well told in a journal and letters, — 
the vehicle of narration adopted by Scott in this in- 
stance. Mr. Lockhart truly says that " Redgaunt- 
let " " contains perhaps more of the author's personal 
experiences than any other of the novels, or even than 
all the rest of them put together." 

It was the only novel published in 1824 ; but Scott 
had to prepare for the press a new edition of his nine- 
teen-volume " Life and Works of Dean Swift," mak- 
ing numerous additions, correcting the notes, and re- 
vising the biography. He wrote some reviews, and 
perhaps the most admirable brief essay that he ever 
produced, — the tribute to the memory of Lord Byron. 
It was in the Court of Session that Sir Walter heard 



846 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1824 

of the death of Lord Byron, — an event which caused 
as great a shock, from its unexpectedness, as did the 
sudden deaths of the Princess Charlotte of Wales in 
1817, of Prince Albert in 1861, and of Charles Dick- 
ens in 1870. I was little advanced beyond boyhood 
when I heard of Byron's death, and remember now, 
as if it happened yesterday, how much I was stunned 
by the blow. If a raw youth could be thus affected, 
the blow must have fallen sharply on the great heart 
of Scott, who admired the genius of the great English 
poet, had ever been not merely willing but anxious 
to give it the noble tribute of a rival's praise, who 
deeply loved the many fine traits in the personal 
character of " the Pilgrim of Eternity," and who had 
tenderly cherished the hope that he would one day 
return with a chastened mind, and live to be an 
honor to his country and her literature. 

Scott, I was told by an advocate who was in the 
court at the time, was writing at the clerk's table, 
when a newspaper marked with a deep black border 
around a particular paragraph was handed to him. 
At a glance he took in the sad intelligence, and, lean- 
ing his head down over his extended arms, remained 
motionless for a short time ; his face, when he raised 
it, exhibiting deep emotion. He walked out of the 
court in an abstracted manner, leaving the key in his 
desk ; and, when his signature was required for some 
document, the judge was informed that he had been 
taken ill. He went down at once to the printing- 
office, and dictated to James Ballantyne the tribute 
to Byron which was published in the next number 
of " The Edinburgh Weekly Journal." It would 
occupy about four such pages as the reader has before 
him, and was printed without the alteration of a 
word. It is subdued and mournful : pride in the 
genius of the poet is softened by a tender regret for 
the loss of the man. It concludes with the sentence, 



^T. 53.] CAPT. scott's betrothal. 347 

" Death creeps upon our most serious as well as upon 
our most idle employments ; and it is a reflection 
solemn and gratifying, that he found our Byron in 
no moment of levity, but contributing his fortune, 
and hazarding his life, in behalf of a people only en- 
deared to him by their past glories, and as fellow- 
creatures suffering under the yoke of a heathen op- 
pressor." 

In October, 1824, when young Charles Scott went 
to the University of Oxford, Mr. Williams of Lam- 
peter, his tutor, was installed as rector or principal 
of the new classical academy then established in Ed- 
inburgh, in honorable rivalry with the old High School 
in which Scott and many of his friends were educated. 
An address to the directors, pupils, and friends of the 
new institution, was delivered by Sir Walter. Before 
the year closed, " The Tales of the Crusaders " was 
begun ; Abbotsford was completed ; and the Christmas 
party was larger than had ever before assembled with- 
in its walls, including Capt. Basil Hall, who kept a 
very copious journal, full of shrewd observation and 
minute details, which he subsequently placed in the 
hands of Mr. Lockhart as far as it might be available 
for the biography. There were, at one particular 
gathering on Jan. 7, 1825, " nine Scotts of Har- 
den, and ten of other families; and at least half a 
dozen Fergussons, with the jolly Sir Adam at their 
Jiead, Lady Fergusson, her niece. Miss Jobson, the 
pretty heiress of Lochore," &c. ; and indeed this party 
was given in honor of this young lady, who was par- 
ticularly attended to by young Walter Scott. In fact, 
this, the first and last regular ball ever given in Ab- 
botsford, was a family celebration of a treaty of alli- 
ance during life, the high contracting parties being 
the young officer and the pretty heiress. Her trus- 
tees did their duty to a young lady of large fortune 
by requiring, that, with reservation of Sir Walter's 



348 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1825 

own life-rent, Abbotsforcl should be settled upon the 
young couple as her own Lochore was. The mar- 
riage took place in February, 1825 ; and the wedded 
pair went to Ireland, where the bridegroom's regi- 
ment was stationed. By this time, at the cost of three 
thousand five hundred pounds, the young man had 
been gazetted captain in the King's Hussars. Writ- 
ing to his friend Terry about this time. Sir Walter 
said, " Every one grumbles at his own profession : 
but here is the devil of a calling for you, where a man 
pays three thousand pounds for an annuity of four 
hundred pounds a year and less ; renounces his free 
will in almost every respect ; must rise at five every 
morning to see horses curried ; dare not sleep out 
out of a particular town without the leave of a cross 
colonel, who is often disposed to refuse it merely be- 
cause he has the power to do so ; and, last of all, may 
be sent to the most unhealthy climates to die of the 
rot, or be shot like a black-cock. There is a per con- 
tra^ to be sure, — fine clothes, and fame ; but the first 
must be paid for, and the other is not come by by one 
out of the hundred." Now, too, Terry becoming 
joint lessee and manager of a London theatre, and 
wanting money or credit, James Ballantyne became 
his security for five hundred pounds, and Sir Wal- 
ter for one thousand two hundred and fifty pounds. 
Both sums, subsequently lost by Terry's bankruptcy, 
had eventually to be paid by Scott. 

Then, too, Mr. Constable greatly interested Scott, 
Lockhart, and Ballantyne in a new and important 
project to revolutionize " the book-trade." He hoped, 
if he lived for half a dozen years, that there should 
be a good library in every decent house in Britain. 
''I have settled my line of operations," he said, — "a 
three-shilling or half-crown volume everj^ month, 
which must and shall sell, not by thousands, or tens 
of thousi^nds, but by hundreds of thousands ; ay, by 



^T. 54.] BOOKS FOR THE MILLION. 349 

millions ! — twelve volumes in the year, a halfpenny 
of profit upon every copy of which will make me 
richer than the possession of all the copyrights of all 
the quartos that ever were or will be hot-pressed, — 
twelve volumes, so good that millions must wish to 
have them, and so cheap that every butcher's callant 
may have them if he pleases to let me tax him six- 
pence a week." 

In this Sir Walter agreed. '' Your plan," said 
he, " cannot fail, provided the books be really good ; 
but you must not start until you have not only the 
leading columns, but depth upon depth of reserve in 
thorough order. I am willing to do my part in this 
grand enterprise. Often, of late, have I felt that the 
vein of fiction was nearly worked out ; often, as you 
well know, have I been thinking seriously of turning 
my hand to history. I am of opinion that historical 
writing has no more been adapted to the demands of 
the increased circles among which literature does 
alread}^ find its way than you allege as to the shape 
and price of books in general." He then stated that 
he felt disposed to write the Life of Napoleon Bona- 
parte. What afterwards appeared, with the title of 
••' Constable's Miscellany," was the issue of this con- 
ference. Before Constable left Abbotsford, it was 
arranged that the first number of this collection 
should consist of one half of '' Waverley ; " the 
second, of the first section of a '' Life of Napoleon 
Bonaparte, by the author of Waverley ; " that this 
*' Life " should be compressed in four of these num- 
bers ; and that, until the whole series of his novels 
should have been issued, a volume every second 
month in this new and uncostly form, he should 
keep the Ballantyne press going with a series of his- 
torical works, to be issued on the alternate months. 

Not without foundation was Scott's fear that " the 
vein of fiction was nearly worked out : " for ^' The 



350 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1825. 

Betrothed," in " The Tales of the Crusaders," did not 
satisfy James Ballantyne's practical and critical judg- 
ment ; and though it was printed, all but a chapter 
or two, Scott was willing to cancel it, which would 
have involved considerable expense. But '' The 
Talisman," on the other hand, was so good, that it 
was thou'2:ht the other tale mio^ht venture abroad 
under its wing. When the work was published, 
" The Talisman " was exceedingly well received. 
The contrast between Saladin and Coeur de Lion 
was well marked. Indeed, this is the best of his 
shorter stories. There was an amusing Introduction, 
too, quietly satirizing the existing mania for joint- 
stock speculations. The announcement of Sir Wal- 
ter's intention of turning to a new line in literature 
ran thus : '' The world, and you, gentlemen, may 
think what you please," said the chairman, elevating 
his voice : " but I intend to write the most wonderful 
book which the world ever read ; a book in which 
every incident shall be incredible, yet strictly true ; a 
work recalling recollections with which the ears of 
this generation once tingled, and which shall be read 
by our children with an admiration approaching to 
incredulity. Such shall be the ' Life of Napoleon 
Bonaparte, by the author of Waverley.' " 

As he never loitered over an undertaking, Sir 
Walter at once began to write a sketch of the 
French Revolution prior to the appearance of Bona- 
parte on the scene. Materials came in from many 
quarters. Constable, among other books, sent a 
wagon-load (about a hundred large folios) of the 
" Moniteur ; " and, as the work went on, it soon was 
apparent that there could be no hope of completing 
it within the compass of four small volumes : it was 
resolved to print it separately, in four larger volumes ; 
and it finally occupied nine, ' 



CHAPTER XXII. 

Id Ireland. — By Boyne "Water. — Reception in Dublin. — County-"Wicklo\r 
Scenery. —Irish Wit. — Edgeworthtown.- At Eallarney. — " The Athens of 
Ireland."- Portrait by Maelise. — Scene at Fermoy. — A Full-dress Inter- 
view. — Lockhart, Maria Edge worth, and Anne Scott. 

1825. 

SIR WALTER SCOTT could scarcely be said to 
have visited Ireland in the lighthouse voyage 
which he made in the summer of 1814 ; though he 
had landed at Port Rush and Dunluce, and sailed so 
close to the Giant's Causeway that he '' could easily 
see that the regularity of the columns was the same 
as at Staffa." He always had regretted having seen 
so little of a country in which he was much inter- 
ested; but had no impelling inducement to go thither 
until the solicitation of his son and daughter-in-law, 
then residing in Dublin, and the earnest request of 
Miss Edgeworth, gave him a motive. Lady Scott, 
who considered that Ireland was a country of ragged 
savages, preferred to stay at home ; and the party 
from Abbotsford consisted of Sir Walter, Miss Anne 
Scott (then a fine healthy girl of twenty -two, high- 
spirited and lively), and Mr. Lockhart. The party 
crossed from Glasgow to Belfast ; visited the field on 
which the battle of the Boyne had been fought on 
the 1st of July, 1690 ; and reached Dublin on the 
14th of July, 1825, — their head-quarters being St. 
Stephen's Green, in which Capt. and Mrs. Scott 
had rented a mansion. Mr. Lockhart truly describes 

851 



352 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1825 

this Green as the most extensive square in Europe. 
I remember that the general opinion in Dubhn was 
that the outer foot-path was an JWsA, and the en- 
closed inner portion an English^ mile in circumfer- 
ence. 

The attention paid to Sir Walter in Dublin was 
very great. From the Viceroy to the street-sweeper, 
the utmost courtesy was shown. The heads of all 
the professions, civil, military, and clerical, vied with 
each other in the endeavor to honor and gratify him. 
Wherever his carriage moved, crowds followed it ; 
when he entered a street, the word was passed on, 
and the shop-keepers and their wives stood at the 
doors bowing and courtesying as he went along ; while 
attendant crowds of men and boys, as numerous and 
excitable as the lazzaroni of Naples, huzzaed as at 
the chariot-wheels of a conqueror. His morning 
levees at his son's house were crowded. In the Cathe- 
dral of St. Patrick's he paused before the monument 
of Swift (a bust by Roubilliac) and the pillar which 
marks the resting-place of poor Stella. To this hoar, 
though Swift died in 1745, his memory is cherished 
in the hearts of the inhabitants of Dublin; for he 
fought and won a hard fight for the rights of the 
masses in Ireland : and the fact, which seemed gener- 
ally known, that Sir Walter had written the Life of 
their favorite, contributed to swell his popularity. 
In the theatre, when he was recognized, the per- 
formances were suspended by order of the gallery 
gods, who have the reputation of being at once the 
wittiest and most free-spoken of play-goers, until 
he had spoken a few words of acknowledgment. In 
Trinity College, Dublin, he was presented with the 
degree of Doctor of Laws, causa honoris^ — a compli- 
ment always very charily paid by that university. 

The beautiful scenery of the county of Wicklow, 
which lies at the very foot of Dublin, as it were, had 



^T. 54.] IRISH REPARTEE. 353 

to be visited ; for the Dargle, the Vale of Avoca, St. 
Kevin's Be,d, the Seven Churches, Powerscourt Fall, 
and other picturesque places, were not to be unre- 
garded. A very original guide, known as Judy of 
Roundwood, attracted Sir Walter's attention ; for 
her interjectional remarks exhibited a natural, racy 
humor. After he had walked off. Lord Plunket, the 
great lawyer, who Uved in the vicinity, told her that 
the lame gentleman was a great poet. "A 'poteT'' 
she exclaimed : ''divil a bit of it! — he's an honora- 
ble gentleman : sure, he gave me half a crown." 

Sir Walter was fond in after-days, when he spoke 
of his Irish excursion, of repeating witty and sharp 
replies which even the beggars had made. One 
particularly charmed liim. A mendicant, who was 
not to be refused, clamored for a sixpence on the 
strength of having picked up his walking-stick. Sir 
Walter handed him a shilling, saying, ''You owe 
me sixpence." The coin was gratefully accepted, 
Avith the exclamation, " The Lord reward you, sir ! 
May you live until I bring you hack the change f^ 

Another specimen of wit, and something more, 
from the lips of a beggar-woman, deeply impressed 
him. A traveller in one of Bianconi's cars (this was 
before the railway time), who had been eating ham- 
sandwiches as he sat on the vehicle during the stop- 
page to change horses, made a motion as if he would 
bestow the untasted portion upon a pale-faced, hun- 
gry-eyed beggar who stood close by, with a baby in 
her arms. She cried out, just as the car was moving 
off, " May good luck follow you all the days of joiiy 
life ! " — the vehicle went off, the traveller putting the 
remainder of his lunch into his pocket with a smile ; 
and the disappointed woman shouted out in a shrill 
and clear voice the terrible commination, by way of 
finale, — " and never overtake you I " 

Sir Walter remained over a fortnight in Dublin, 

23 



354 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1825 

and then passed on to Edgeworthtown, in the school 
of which Oliver Goldsmith had been educated ; hav- 
ing been born at Pallasmore, then and now part of 
the Edgeworth property. The very eccentric father 
of Maria Edgeworth had died in 1817 ; but her 
brother was one of the best and most popular land- 
lords in Ireland. He was hospitable too, with ample 
means ; and a succession of highly-educated friends, 
the elite of Irish society, contributed very much to 
Sir Walter's gratification. He was so much and so 
pleasantly occupied during the weeks he was in Ire- 
land, that his letters were '' few, and far between." 

After a very happy week at Edgeworthtown, 
where Capt. and Mrs. Scott were of the party, Sir 
Walter continued his journey with the purpose of 
visiting the Lakes of Killarney, and prevailed on Ma- 
ria Edgeworth to occupy the vacant seat in his car- 
riage. Their journey literally was an ovation. The 
resident nobility and gentry were proud to receive 
two such lions as Sir Walter Scott and Miss Edge- 
worth (few at that time had heard of Lockhart) ; and 
certainly a great deal of the country was exhibited to 
such visitors. Scott, it may be added, was well con- 
tent with what he saw of the place and the people, 
and had great hopes of both. He arrived at the con- 
clusion, Tory as he was, that more harm was done by 
refusing, than could possibly occur from granting. 
Catholic emancipation. It was, as I well recollect, 
a season of great political agitation in Ireland ; and 
Scott was afraid, that if the causes of this excitment 
were not removed, that terrible misfortune and evil, 
a civil war, might arise. He had some sympathy, 
too, with those who indignantly protested against 
the suppression of the Irish Parliament, — just as, 
had he lived in the time of Queen Anne, he would 
have objected to the suppression of the ancient Le- 
gislature of Scotland. He condemned as well as 



^T. 54.] KILLARNEY. 355 

mourned over the t^o-prevalent practice of Irish 
absenteeism, the evils of which had been so ably 
illustrated in one of Miss Edgeworth's tales. When 
Sir Walter arrived in Limerick, all the bells of that 
noble city pealed out a welcome. In Killarney, the 
whole population turned out to receive him ; and an 
immense banner was extemporized, which was meant 
to be complimentary, — for it was inscribed with the 
legend, painted in letters six inches in length, — 

"WELLCOM TO SCOT AND EDGEWUTH." 

But, as Sheridan has made one of his characters 
observe, " when affection guides the pen, [or the paint- 
brush ?] he is a fool who would quarrel with the 
style," or the spelling ! 

At Killarney, the great treat reserved for distin- 
guished visitors is a hunt by the Upper Lake ; which 
frequently ends in the stag taking to the water, and 
escaping from its pursuers. Sir Walter, in his young 
days, had seen so many similar performances, that he 
could readily have dispensed with another. Mr. John 
O'Connell of Grena, brother of the Great Agitator, 
who kept a pack of stag-hounds, would not consent 
to their running for the gratification of Scott, who, 
he declared, " had maligned the Irish character in his 
poetry, and was opposed to the Catholic claims." 

It is curious that Scott, like Shakspeare, never intro- 
duced an Irish character into any of his works. Red- 
mond O'Neale, in " Rokeby," despite his national name 
(which is properly O'Neill), is son of an English 
baron and an Irish lady. In " The Search after 
Happiness, or the Quest of Sultaun Solimaun," the 
characteristics of various peoples are amusingly 
sketched, — Asian and African, Italian and French, 
English and Scotch ; and at last the word is, — 

" Now for the land of verdant Erin 
The Sultaun's royal bark is steering, — 



356 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [182$ 

The Emerald Isle, where honest Padly d-wells, 

The cousin of John Bull, as story tells. 

For a lon<j space had John, with words of thunder, 

Hard looks, and harder knocks, kept Paddy under ; 

Till the poor lad, like boy that's flogged unduly, 

Had gotten sometliinir restive and unruly. 

Hard was his lot and lodging, you'll allow, — 

A wigwam that would hardly serve a sow ; 

His landlord, and of middlemen two brace, 

Had screwed his rent up to the starving-place ; 

His garnient was a top-coat, and an old one ; 

His meal was a potato, and a cold one : 

But still for fun, a frolic, and all that, 

In the round world was not the match of Pat." 

There is nothing very anti-Hibernian in these spor- 
tive lines. '' The Vision of Don Roderick," published 
in 1811, after paying a compliment to the English 
and Scottish soldiers who fought in the Peninsular 
war under Napoleon, included the Irish in the folio w- 
in^: stanza : — 



o 



" Hark ! from yon stately ranks what laughter rings, 
Mingling wild mirth with war's stern minstrelsy. 
His jest while each blithe comrade round him flings, 
And moves to death with military glee \ 
Boast, Erin! boast, then, — tameless, frank, and free; 
In kindness warm, and fierce in danger known ; 
Rough Nature's children, humorous as she ; 
And He, yon Chieftain, — strike the proudest tone 

Of thy bold harp, green Isle! — the Hero is thine own." 

Some years after Scott's visit to Ireland, after he 
had signed his name to a parliamentary petition and 
made a speech in favor of Catholic emancipation, I 
asked Daniel O'Connell, '^ What will your brother 
think of this ? Didn't he refuse to let Sir Walter 
Scott have a stag-hunt because he believed him an 
enemy to the Irish claims ? " The answer was, ''Not 
that ; but because, in Constance Beverley's trial-scene, 
in ' Marmion,' Scott spoke very disrespectfully of the 



^T. 54.] " THE ATHENS OF IRELAND." 357 

religion of the great majority of Irishmen. It was 
that which set m}^ brother John against Sir Walter : 
and I was sorry for it only once ; and that was, ever 
since." 

In Cork, the reception of Sir Walter Scott and his 
party was almost as enthusiastic as it had been in 
Dublin. At that time, the inhabitants designated 
Cork "the Athens of Ireland," because it had a 
very extensive and well-chosen public library, an 
academy of fine arts, and a philosophical and sci- 
entific institution of some importance. Scott was 
taken to see Blarney Castle, and, despite his lame- 
ness, insisted on climbing up to kiss the famous 
stone. What did not occur on that occasion was 
described, Avith wit, fancy, and erudition, in " The 
Reliques of Father Prout." Scott also sailed down 
the River Lee to Cove, — the Cove of Cork ; which, in 
a spirit of adulation evidently created by its vicinity 
to the Blarney Stone, was renamed Queenstown on 
the occasion of a royal visit of a few hours to that 
port. The corporation of Cork would have given 
Sir Walter and his friends a public dinner ; but time 
did not permit ; they voted him the freedom of their 
city, which he received in a handsome silver box at 
Abbotsford. 

Having gone into the shop of Mr. Bolster, the 
principal bookseller, to purchase a guide-book to 
Killarney, occasion was taken or made to detain him 
for some minutes in conversation ; which gave an op- 
portunity to a youth who stood behind the desk to 
make a rapid but excellent sketch. It was handed 
to Sir Walter for his inspection ; and he expressed his 
surprise and admiration, inviting the young artist to 
call upon him at his hotel. Finall}^, a copy of this 
sketch, as carefully finished as the time permitted, and 
neatly mounted, was taken to Sir Walter, and the 
artist was presented to Miss Edgeworth and Mr. 



358 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1825 

Lockhart.* Soon after, when the latter was settled 
in London in charge of " The Quarterly Review," he 
was able to help the artist in more ways than one. 
It was the late Daniel Maclise, R.A., who sketched 
Scott thus (and also in the Gallery of Illustrious 
Literary Characters in " Eraser's IMagazine," and in 
the illustrations of the Front Papers) ; and he hit off 
his face, figure, and pose more happily than, even in 
their more labored efforts, most other artists have 
done. 

By the old mail-coach road from Cork to Dublin, 
the town of Fermoy is eighteen miles from the 
former city; one of the handsomest towns in Ireland, 
even then; well built, with broad and handsome 
macadamized streets; the noble River Blackwater, 
over which is a bridge of twenty-two arches, flowing 
through it; handsome public buildings, church, chap"^ 
els, bank, barracks, court-house, hospital, theatre, 
markets, and suburban mansions; and a collegiate 
school, the best in the south of Ireland, the princi- 
pal of which was Dr. Hincks, father of Sir Francis 
Hmcks, lately financial minister in the government 
of Canada. My family had long resided in Fermoy, 
where my father had filled the office of postmaster, 
chief constable, &c. ; and I had been educated there. 
At the time Sir Walter was in Ireland, I was in my 
seventeenth year. 

* As these pages are leaving my hand, I find in Mr. O'Driscoil's Memoir 
of Daniel Mac ise,R. A. just published in London, the following accZ t 
^oi IT% ^ ^r^ *l?T^ described : " In the autumn of 1825, Sir Walter ScTt 
made a hasty tour of Ireland, accompanied by Mr. Lockhart and Miss Ed-e- 
worth. Amongst other places, he staid a short time at Cork: and whTlst 
there, he v.sited the establishment of Mr. Bolster, an eminent bookseller 
thpr/'^M^^'r'' ^^ Illustrious author attracted crowds of literary persons 
S^rW.n^'' '^'1 ^''if " ^ ™^? boy conceived the idea of making a sketch of 
whvh ^- '/''?' '•^^'"''"^^.P^'''^^^ himself unobserved in a par? of the shop 
which afforded him an admirable opportunity, he made in a few minutes 
three outhne sketches each in a different position. He brought fl^m home 
and having selected that one which he considered the best, worked at i^aU 
night and next mornmg brought to Bolster a highly-finished pen-and-ink 
drawmg, handled with all the elaborate minuteness^ of a line^en^aving 



^ET. 54] AT FERMOY. 359 

There is no necessity of reminding me that I am 
writing the story, not of my own life, but of Scott's. 
It is necessary, however, that I explain under what 
circumstances I probably saved his life. 

It had come to my knowledge, that on a certain 
evening in August, 1825, Sir Walter Scott would 
arrive in Fermoy, and pass the night there. About 
six in the afternoon, as I was loitering on the side- 
walk in front of my mother's house, I saw a light 
landau and four rapidly dash down Cork Hill ; and I 
rushed down the street, placing myself in front of 
the King's- Arms Hotel, where Scott was to put up. 
This hotel occupied the greater part of one side of a 
large open square ; and the postilions, who in Ireland 
appear as if (to use Miss Edgeworth's words) they 
always kept " a gallop for the avenue," turned the 
corner of the street at full speed, and suddenly drew 
up with a great crash, landing the carriage close to 
the foot-path. The postilions did not see, as I did, 
that between the carriage and the foot-path a space 
about four feet wide and ten feet deep had been ex- 
cavated for the purpose of constructing a drain or 
sewer. Sir Walter, who sat on the left, leaving the 
place of honor to be occupied by Miss Edgeworth, his 
daughter and son-in-law sitting with their backs to 
the horses, prepared to descend ; but, his lameness 
making him awkward, he turned round, with his 

Bolster placed it in a conspicuous part of his shop; and, Sir Walter with his 
friends having again called during the day, it attracted his attention when 
he entered. He was struck with the exquisite finish and fidelity of the 
drawing, and at once inquired the name of the artist who had executed it. 
Maclise, who was standing in a remote part of the shop, was brought for- 
ward, and introduced to Sir Walter. The great author took him kindly by 
the hand, and expressed his astonishment that a mere boy could have 
achieved such a work, and predicted that he would yet distinguish himself. 
Sir Walter then asked for a pen, and wrote with his own hand, ' Walter 
Scott ' at the foot of the sketch. That portrait was lithographed, and sold 
extensively; and Maclise found himself at once a successful portrait-taker 
in a humble way." This mainly corroborates my own version of the story 
which I had from Mr. Bolster, with whom I was well acquainted. He 
showed me two sketches, I think, — one a full-length, the other a head. 



360 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1825 

back to the hotel, as he stood upon the carriage- 
step. The next movement would have caused his 
fall into the gaping pit ; which, as he stood, he could 
not see. Just as, gayly laughing, he had raised his 
foot to place it on the ground, I pushed him back 
with all my force as I stood upon terra firma^ and 
he fell forward into the carriage. Rapidly recover- 
ing himself, he turned round, and angrily asked, in 
broader Scotch than I had ever heard before (though 
my father was a Highlander, and had many Scottish 
visitors), '' What's that for, mon ? " I pointed to the 
ab^^sm below. He appeared to shiver, for the mo- 
ment, as he looked down. He said, " I am vera 
much obleeged, young sir," and passed out of the 
carriage on the other and safer side, from which the 
rest of the party had already descended. I was at 
the door of the inn as he passed in ; and, taking my 
hand, he grasped it very kindly, saying, '' Yon might 
have been a bad accident." I followed him into the 
hall; and, as he went up stairs, he saluted me again, 
waving his hand. Then, as old John Bun3^an has it, 
" I went my wa}^ rejoicing." 

Two hours after this, after I had repeated for the 
hundredth time to my mother, and any others who 
would listen, how I had been thanked by Sir Walter 
Scott for having saved him from a bad fall, Mr. 
Henry Robinson, son of the hotel-keeper, came up, 
and said I must go with him at once, as Sir Walter 
Scott wanted and was waiting for me. As we walked 
down together, my amour propre was wounded by 
learning that Sir Walter did not know luhom he had 
sent for. He had set down, on his memoranda of 
inquiries to be made, that Fermoy had been a mere 
hamlet, when a Scotch gentleman of fortune and en- 
terprise had purchased it, and created a thriving and 
populous town, within living memory. He asked at 
the hotel who could give him the best information 



iET. 54.] INTERVIEWED. 361 

on this subject, and, when "young Mackenzie " was 
named, sent his compliments, with the request that I 
would see him. 

When I entered the room, in which he sat alone, I 
was struck with the change in his appearance. His 
travelling costume (such as he used daily to wear at 
Abbotsford) consisted of a green cut-away coat, or 
rather jacket, with short skirts and brass buttons ; 
drab trousers, vest, and gaiters ; a single seal and 
watch-key, attached to a watered black ribbon, 
dangling from his fob ; a loose, and not very stiff, 
linen collar; a black silk neck-kerchief; and a low- 
crowned, deep-brimmed hat. He bad no gloves; and 
his ungloved hands, large and almost clumsy, were 
thickly covered with red bristles. His feet Avere 
scarcely so large as one would have expected, his 
height being six feet. He was muscular, but not 
stout ; and the breadth across his chest was very 
great. He walked very lame, using a stout staff, 
with a crooked handle, even in the room ; but he 
was active and rapid in his movements. As he 
stood, — just as Maclise drew him in the Fraserian 
sketch, — only the toes and ball of his right foot 
touched the ground. It appeared as if the posterior 
tendons had shrunk: at any rate, his heel was raised 
when he stood. 

When I saw him, this second time, he bad changed 
his dress, and was attired in a full dinner-suit. I sub- 
sequently heard that at home, even when no stranger 
was at hand, he invariably changed his attire, saying 
that he did not feel comfortable in the evening in his 
" work-day claes." He had dressed for dinner imme- 
diately on his arrival, and in his ample suit of Sax- 
ony black, with velvet vest, and a neatly tied white 
cambric cravat, bore little resemblance to the care- 
lessly-dressed, countrified-looking person I had seen 
two hours before. Then, too, I first saw him with 



362 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1825 

his head uncovered, and could not help noticing the 
unusually high pile of forehead. He looked in 
evening costume like a " fine old English gentleman " 
who had lived in the best society. His manners 
were unaffected ; the expression of his face was al- 
most benign ; and there was a quiet and impressive 
dignity in his appearance which I have never seen in 
any other person. 

Sir Walter rose when I entered the room, and, 
readily recognizing me, took me by the hand, and said 
that he was glad to see me, as it lay on his conscience 
that he had not thanked me enough for his escape 
from a great peril. " I thought of writing you a bit 
note," he said with a smile, " but did not know how 
to address it." At once recognizing that my accent 
and my name did not indicate the same nationality, 
he asked from what part of Scotland my father came ; 
and when I mentioned the old place in Inverness, 
close by the fatal field of Culloden, he said, " I know 
the place well. One of that family wrote a book of 
Gaelic poems" (that was my father, who had died 
five years back). "I have the book," said Scott; 
" though I know the Gaelic only by sometimes hear- 
ing it spoken or sung ; and that's no knowledge at all." 

He was very curious, even particular, about Fer- 
moy ; first letting me tell him what I knew, and then, 
as if I were in the witness-box, closely cross-examin- 
ing me. What I had to say was this : That about 
the year 1780, as my mother had told me, Mr. John 
Anderson, from Scotland, had settled in mercantile 
business in Cork, where he made a large fortune in 
about ten years ; that, when he purchased the Fer- 
moy estate, he found a few houses crowded together 
near the bridge over the Blackwater ; that when it 
was determined to introduce the mail-coach system 
into Ireland, and the Government was unable or un- 
willing to go to the expense, Mr. Anderson offered to 



^T. 54.] JOHN ANDERSON. 363 

do it, finding all the required funds ; that he built 
carriages, provided horses, and, in many districts, 
converted mere horse-tracks into excellent roads ; 
that he thus opened mail communication from Dub- 
lin to the principal districts of Ireland ; that in 1796, 
when the French fleet anchored in Bantry Bay, and 
the Government found it necessary to have a large 
military force in the south of Ireland, and the prin- 
cipal landowners demanded extravagant terms, Mr. 
Anderson gave land on the Fermoy estate, on which 
the troops encamped ; that he afterwards presented 
the Irish Government with forty acres, rent-free for- 
ever, on which, overhanging the town, were erected 
barracks able to accommodate from four to six 
thousand soldiers during the war with Napoleon ; 
that the only recompense he received was a baronet- 
cy for his eldest son ; and that, after having given 
the greatest impetus to enterprise and patriotism in 
Ireland, he had failed, being a banker, in the com- 
mercial crash which took place not long after the 
downfall of Napoleon. 

Sir Walter asked from what part of Scotland Mr. 
Anderson came. I did not know, but named sev- 
eral Scotchmen whom he had encouraged to settle in 
the town, all of whom had done well, and were from 
Dumfries. "Ay, a}^," Sir Walter said: "there are 
many Andersons and Reids in auld Dumfries." 

By this time it was nine o'clock ; and Sir Walter, 
calling for what, in Ireland, are called '' the materials," 
brewed two glasses of whiskey-punch, handing the 
smaller one to me. I nearly " put my foot into it," 
when, having discovered that I had read a great deal 
about the French Revolution, he said that '' Napoleon, 
like Byron, and a certain personage not named to 
' ears polite,' was not so bad as he was painted." I 
blundered out, " You are writing his Life, I see, Sir 
AValter ;" alluding to the announcement, in the intro- 



364 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1825 

duction to " The Tales of the Crusaders," that such 
a work was to be executed by the author of " Waver- 
ley." The moment I uttered the words, I saw my 
mistake. He looked shrewdly at me from beneath 
those deep pent-houses of shaggy eyebrows which 
overhung the lamps by which his " dome of thought, 
the palace of the soul," was lighted, and seeing, I 
presume, only confusion and innocence in my face, 
smiled quietly, and changed the subject by noticing 
over the fireplace a portrait of an officer in a dark 
uniform, with death's-head and cross-bones embroid- 
ered on the cap. " That is a strange uniform," he 
said. " Have I not seen it before ? " I explained that 
it was the portrait of a Dr. Waiblinger, who had mar- 
ried the prettiest girl in Fermoy, and carried her off 
to Germany. " His regiment?" He belonged, I said, 
to the Duke of Brunswick's Own Oels, who were 
quartered in Fermoy for some time during the war. 
" Yes," he said. " I ought to have recognized the 
dress. I saw that death's-head regiment in Paris in 
1815. The duke was killed, fighting against France, 
soon after the Revolution broke out ; and his regiment, 
entirely composed of his vassals, swore to avenge his 
death, and obtained leave to put the skull and bones 
on their caps." I said that in Ireland they were 
called the Black Bruns wickers, and, eager to show my 
information, said the duke's son was killed at Water- 
loo. " Yes," said Sir Walter : " you would find that 
in ' Childe Harold.' " The line runs, — 

" He rushed into the field, and, foremost fighting, fell." 

After many inquiries as to my education, habits, 
ambition, future course of life, and course of reading. 
Sir Walter said, " The habit of reading every thing, 
in which I indulged very much in my youth, is to be 
avoided. You learn a great deal if you cultivate your 



^«T- 54 ] ^ ANECDOTE. 365 

memory, but do not learn exactly. At the same 
time," he added with a smile, " I read every book, 
to this day, that falls in my way. Bad habits, 
young sir, are not got rid of in old age." Having 
asked me where I had got a particular date in French 
history, I answered, " In Philip de Comines ; " I was 
about adding, " to whom I had been attracted by the 
mention of him in ' Quentin Durward,' " but suddenly 
pulled up before I had made a second allusion to a 
Waverley novel. I thought, by a certain nervous 
twitch of his unusually long upper lip, that he had 
discovered the current of my thoughts, and the sudden 
manner in which I had checked it. 

One anecdote of his may be worth repeating. Hav- 
ing politely asked my permission to smoke, and strong- 
ly cautioned me against the use of tobacco in any 
form, Sir Walter lighted a cigar, in one end of which 
was inserted a reed, or straw, through which he 
smoked. I had never seen such a cigar, and probably 
my surprise was evident. " The straw," Sir Walter 
said, " prevents the tobacco from touching the Ups, 
and you draw out only the flavor of the incense. I 
mind me " (he used this phrase repeatedly for " I re- 
member ") "of a trial which took place in our Exche- 
quer Court at Edinburgh. An old offender, whom the 
custom-house officers had never been able to bring 
under the law, was caught at last, and tried for smug- 
gling cigars, — made like this one, after the fashion 
of that time. He had smuggled in I know not how 
many boxes of cigars, and was proceeded against for 
the penalty of one hundred pounds for each box. 
The charge was proven ; but one of our shrewd law- 
yers, who was defending the accused, demanded that 
tlie contents of each box, legally estimated at sixteen 
ounces, should be weighed. In almost every instance, 
there was the exact weight. Drawing the straws 
out of the cigars, he apphed the test of the scales a 



366 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1S25 

second time ; and each box was then under the legal 
weight. The Chief Baron, my excellent friend, the 
Right Hon. Robert Dundas, immediately ruled that 
the Crown had failed to prove its case. ' Straws,' 
he said, ' are not liable to any customs duty ; and, 
though a great quantity of tobacco has been smuggled, 
there is not a full pound weight of it in any box of 
cisrars before the Court.' " 

About half-past nine o'clock, Sir Walter's travel- 
ling companions came in to say good-night, as they 
had to rise early next morning, being bound for Lis- 
more Castle, one of the seats of the Duke of Devon- 
shire, so literally built on the banks of the Black- 
water, that it was not uncommon for salmon to be 
taken with the fly from one of the drawing-room 
windows. 

Miss Edgeworth, one of the most petite ladies I had 
ever seen, courteously invited me to visit her if ever 
business or pleasure should call me to the County 
Longford. Miss Anne Scott, natural and naive^ de- 
clared, as she checked a yawn, that she was terribly 
tired. Sir Walter saw the ladies to the door, which he 
held until they had quitted the room, with a low bow 
to each as she retired. Mr. Lockhart remained, smok- 
ing fiercely out of a huge meerschaum. As the town- 
clock struck ten, I rose to take my leave, and was 
hospitably entreated by both gentlemen, if ever I vis- 
ited my father's land, to renew the acquaintance there 
and then begun. At six o'clock next morning, I was 
up and stirring, inteftt on having a last look of the 
party; and, at seven, had a kind greeting by voice and 
hand as they set off on their journey to Lismore, — 
a pleasant drive of twelve Irish, or about fifteen Eng- 
lish miles. 

It was never my good fortune to visit Scotland 
until after Sir Walter's death. When I went to Lon- 
don, some years after I had seen him in Ireland, I 



MT. 54.] 



THE LAST INTERVIEW. 



56T 



met Mr. Lockhart, who was so good as to recognize 
me. In 1831, before Sir Walter started on his voy- 
age to Italy, I met Mr. Lockhart in the street, not far 
from his house in Regent's Park ; and he took me 
home with him to lunch. Sir Walter, though much 
changed, was not so much broken as I had been led 
to expect. He referred more than once to our con- 
versation at Fermoy ; but, for the most part, listened 
rather than spoke. His hair, white as the driven 
snow, was combed down all over his head, the apex 
of which, as it towered, had suggested to some one 
the remark, that Scott " had a stor^ on his head more 
than any other man." Mr. Rogers the poet was of 
the party, — Scott's senior, yet surviving him over 
twenty-three years. As I held Sir Walter's hand at 
parting, I felt that I never again should see him. 




CHAPTER XXIII. 

Lockhart'3 Removal to London. — Thomas Moore at Abbotsford. —Scotch 
Fairies. — The Cluricaune. — Scott and Moore at the Theatre. — Tom Pur- 
die takes Advice. — Scott begins a Diary. — Panic of 1825. — Failure of Con- 
stable and Ballantyne.— Scott becomes Liable. — In the Hands of Trus- 
tees.— Death of Lady Scott. — " Woodstock" published.- Visits to Lon- 
don and Paris. — "Letters of Malachi Malagrowther." — Paying olf the 
Debt. 

1825—1826. 

THE composition of the " Life of Napoleon " was 
resumed immediately after Scott's return from 
Ireland. It was the hardest work he ever had in 
hand. We liave seen the rapidity, the ease, with 
which he had produced the poems which had made, 
and the novels which had extended, his reputation, 
until, as Byron wrote * in the presentation-copy of 
" The Giaour," he was acknowledged, even by the 
most illustrious of his contemporaries, to be the true 
"monarch of Parnassus." But writing history in- 
volved much reading; and this to a man, who, 
through life, had mostly read to entertain himself or 
others, and who, in fact, had to read a number of un- 
congenial works because he had to review them, was 
far from pleasant. For the first time, he experienced 
the difficulty of getting through the task-work of 
authorship. Mr. Gillies said, what Mr. Lockhart con- 
firmed, that, from the time he became an author, he 
read comparatively nothing. In the " Life of Napo- 

* The inscription was, "To the Monarch of Parnassus, from one of his 
subjects." 



^T. 54.] WRITING HISTORY. 369 

leon " he had to collect, compare, and compile from 
a variety of sources. Lockhart says, " He had now 
to apply himself doggedly to the mastering of a huge 
accumulation of historical materials. He read and 
noted and indexed with the pertinacity of some pale 
compiler in the British Museum ; but rose from such 
employment, not radiant and buoyant as after he had 
been feasting himself among the teeming harvests of 
Fancy, but with an aching brow, and eyes on which 
the dimness of years had begun to plant some specks 
before they were sul)jected again to that straining 
over small print and difficult manuscript which had, 
no doubt, been familiar to them in the early time, 
when (in Shortreed's phrase) ' he was making him- 
self.' It was a pleasant sight, when one happened to 
take a passing peep into his den, to see the white head 
erect, and the smile of conscious inspiration on his 
lips, while the pen, held boldly and at a commanding 
distance, glanced steadily and gayly along a fast- 
blackening page of ' The Talisman.' It now often 
made me sorry to catch a glimpse of him, stooping 
and poring with his spectacles amidst piles of authori- 
ties, a little note-book ready in the left hand, that had 
always used to be at liberty for patting Maida." At 
this time, too, he was deprived of the assistance, coun- 
sel, and companionship of Mr. Lockhart, who, how- 
ever cold, reserved, and proud he may have appeared 
in general society, was affectionate, cheerful, and 
kind in domestic life. The lad for whom, as " Master 
Hugh Littlejohn," Sir Walter wrote " The Tales of 
a Grandfather," was so feeble, that it was evident his 
only chance of life was removal to a more genial cli- 
mate ; and as, at that time, Mr. Lockhart was offered 
the editorship of "The Quarterly Review," — an office 
highly remunerative, and, as the event proved, one 
for which he was particularly well adapted, to say 
nothing of the status it would give him in the lite- 

24 



370 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1S25 

rarv world, — lie accepted it, and, at the close of 1S25, 
quitted Scotland, with Mrs. Lockhart, and the much- 
loved, short-lived child of manv and high hopes. 

Thomas Moore, who had written to Scott, in Ire- 
land, that he lamented he could not be at Abbotsford to 
introduce him to Killarney, had made up his mind, 
after the success of his - Life of Sheridan,"' to visit Ab- 
botsford, instead of taking a trip to Paris. Scott's re- 
ply to the letter announcing this was characteristic. It 
began, " My dear Sir,'' — then a line of erasure was 
drawn through these words, followed by ** Damn 
Sir, — My dear Moore.'* 

Moore reached Abbotsford on one of the closing 
days of October, 1825, — a month which, in the rural 
pans of Scotland, is one of the softest, simniest, and 
most lovely of the year, with the leaves changing 
their hues, but not vet fallins:. Fortimatelv, there 
was no visitor but himself, — even the Lockharts 
having gone to Edinburgh on that day. The two 
poets loitered on the banks of the silvery Tweed, list- 
ening to its musical ripple, and talking about fairies, 
which, Scott declared, were i)opularly beUeved to 
frequent the opposite bank, miniature as regarded 
size, and fancifully attired in green and gold. It 
turned out that these were only puppets belonging 
to a wandering showman, which some Galashiels 
weavers, Bacchi pleni, had stolen, in the hope that 
they were '• the gude fjeople," and, finding them dull 
and dumb, had thrown them under a bridge, where a 
credtdous shepherd, seeing them, had mistaken them 
for fairies! The facts had been sworn to before 
Scott as sheriff, and must have interested him a 
good deal, as he also had related them, with the so- 
lution of the mystery, in his letter to Mr. Crofton 
Croker six months before, on receipt of his '' Fairy 
Legends and Traditions of the South of Ireland." In 
this occurs the folio wiug passage : '• The extreme simi- 



>CT. 54-] VISITED BY THOMAS MOORE. 371 

larity of your fictions to ours in Scotland is very strik- 
ing in this collection. The Cluricaune (which is an 
admirable subject for pantomime) is not known here. 
I suppose the Scottish cheer was not sufficient to 
tempt him." 

The Cluricaune, sometimes called the Lepricaune, 
is the shoemaker of the Irish fairies. He is about 
as tall as a span ; is an old-fashioned creature, always 
attired in a court suit, knee-buckles and three-cor- 
nered chapeau included ; is discovered now and 
then by the tap-tap-tapping of his hammer on the 
lap-stone ; and gives leg-bail with great celerity if 
not capttired at once and detained with a firm grasp. 
The popular belief is, that, while you hold him, he 
will show you where to dig for buried treasure : but 
that, the moment you cease to look at him. he is 
sure to slip away. In one of Moore's Melodies 
(•• The time I've lost in wooing "'), this cuxining little 
creature is referred to as 

'• The sprite 

"Whom maids at night 
Oft meet in glen that's haunted. 
Like him. too, Beauty won me ; 
But, while her eves were on me. 

If once their ray 

Was tamed a war. 
Oh ! winds could not outnm me." 

On the first day of Moore's visit, the dinner-party 
was very small ; and the poets were alone for most of 
the evening, and talked of many subjects, in which 
they had almost equal interest, — Byron. Ireland, 
their own career, and literature. In complete nov- 
elty, Scott said, lay the only chance for a man am- 
bitious of high literary reputauon in these days. 
Macaulay, Bulwer, Thackeray, and Dickens have 
shown, by their works and in their success, the truth 
of this remark. At last, Moore wrote in his diary, 



372 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1825 

" To my no small surprise and pleasure, he men- 
tioned the novels, without any reserve, as his own. 
He gave me an account of the original progress of 
those extraordinary works, the hints supplied for 
them, the conjectures and mystification to which 
they had given rise, &c., &c. He concluded with 
saying, ' They have been a mine of wealth to me : 
but I find 1 fail in them now ; I can no longer make 
them so good as at first.' " When Moore entered 
Scott's room next morning, " He laid his hand," said 
the lyrist, '' with a sort of cordial earnestness on my 
breast, and said, ' Now^ my dear Moore^ we are friends 
for life: " 

Together they visited Melrose Abbey, and many 
other places near Abbotsford celebrated in romance 
or history. Moore's singing charmed even Scott, 
who confessed that he hardly knew high from low 
in music. " His true delight, however," Moore wrote, 
" was visible after supper, when Sir Adam Fergusson 
sang some old Jacobite songs. Scott's eyes sparkled, 
and his attempts to join in chorus showed much 
more of the will than the deed. ' Hey, tutti tatte,' 
was sung in the true orthodox manner, all of us stand- 
ing round the table with hands crossed and joined, 
and chorusing every verse with all our might and 
main. He seemed to enjoy all this thoroughly." He 
told Moore, too, that, in speaking with George IV. 
about the hero of the Forty-five, the only difference 
was that the king spoke of him as 'Hhe Pretender,'* 
while he (Scott) invariably called him 'vPrince 
Charles." When the monarch and the minstrel first 
met at dinner, during the regency, their conversa- 
tion — led by the illustrious host, of course — was 
chiefly about " Prince Charles." Like most well- 
informed men, Scott would not be complimented on 
the extent of his acquirements ; and said, " That sort 
of knowledge is very superficial." 



^T. 54.] MOORE AT THE THEATRE. 373 

After spending four or five days with Scott, 
Moore left him, both feehng deep regret. On his 
way to Edinburgh, he sat outside of the coach for 
the last two or three stages to see the country, 
which he thought dreary and barren. 

In Edinburgh, considering the fact that its people 
are not half so excitable as those of Dublin, the wel- 
come extended to Moore at the theatre was very 
warm ; and, the moment he and Scott took their 
seats in the centre box, "the whole pit rose," as 
Moore journalized, " turned towards us, and ap- 
plauded vehemently." His name being repeatedly 
shouted out, he had to bow his acknowledgments 
more than once, the orchestra each time playing Irish 
melodies.* But for the shortness of his visit, Edin- 
burgh would have given him a public dinner. Sir 
Walter was much gratified with the honors bestowed 
on him whom Byron had called " the poet of all cir- 
cles, and the idol of his own." This was Moore's 
first and last visit to Scotland. In Sir Walters diary, 
begun the week after this incident occurred, is the 
entry, " We went to the theatre together ; and the 
house, being luckily a good one, received T. M. with 
rapture. I could have hugged them ; for it paid back 
the debt of the kind reception I met with in Ireland." 

In his diary, too, Scott says, '' I was aware that 
Byron had often spoken, both in private society and 
in his journal, of Moore and myself in the same 
breath, and with the same sort of regard : so I was 
curious to see what there could be in common be- 
tween us, Moore having lived so much in the gay 
world, I in the country, and with people of business, 
and sometimes with politicians ; Moore a scholar, I 



* When the Emperor of Russia, who visited London with the rest of the 
allied sovereigns in 1814, paid a state visit to Drury-lane Theatre, the leader 
of the orchestra, desirous of complimenting the country of the illustrious 
stranger, greeted him with the Scotch air, "Green grow the Rushes, 0! '* 



374 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1825 

none ; he a musician and artist, I without knowledge 
of a note ; he a democrat, I an aristocrat ; with many 
other points of difference ; besides his being an Irish- 
man, 1 a Scotchman, and both tolerably national. 
Yet there is a point of resemblance, and a strong one. 
We are both good-humored fellows, who rather seek 
to enjoy what is going forward than to maintain our 
dignity as lions ; and we have both seen the world 
too widely and too well not to contemn in our souls 
the imaginary consequence of literary people who 
walk with their noses in the air, and remind one 
always of the fellow whom Johnson met in the ale- 
house, and who called himself ' the great Twalmly^ 
inventor of the flood-gate iron for smoothi7ig linen.'' He 
also enjoys the 3Iot pour rire ; and so do I." 

Moore's democracy did not prevent his being re- 
markably fond of the society of aristocrats. In his 
journal, he duly chronicles with what untiring per- 
severance he went to the mansions of noble lords and 
lovely or fashionable ladies ; and how constantly he 
was inventing excuses for going to London, that he 
might mingle in their society, — they, to do justice to 
both, being as happy to receive him as he was to visit 
them. The compliment, in his case, was as much 
bestowed as received^ if he only would have thought 
so. It was mean for Byron to say of Moore, as re- 
ported by Leigh Hunt on his return from Italy, 
'' Tommy dearly loves a lord ; " but it was meaner 
still, besides being spiteful, for Hunt to repeat it. 
Nevertheless, it was true. Moore was, I will not say 
happiest, — for he was a domestic man in his way, — 
but very happy, in the society of the peerage. In his 
satirical poems is an " Epitaph on a Tuft-hunter," 
which, from any other pen, would at once have been 
accepted as a sly hit at his own well-known proclivity 
for high life. He speaks of one " who ne'er preferred 
a viscount to a marquis yet;" who would quit Love's 



^ET. 54.] , TOM PURDIE. 375 

own sister for an earl's ; who, in the absence of a 
lord, would take, of course, to a peer's relations ; and 
ends, — 

" Heaven grant him now some noble nook ; 
For, rest his soul ! he'd rather be 
Genteelly damned beside a duke 
Than saved in vulgar company." 

On the other hand, instead of Scott courting the 
aristocracy, they courted him. It was usually very 
much against the grain that he ever went to London, 
where the attention he received ; the actual adulation 
thrown at his feet ; the extent of lionizing he had to 
submit to ; the daily, almost hourly, engagements 
which he had to accept ; the gay breakfasts, the 
lively luncheons, the grand dinners, the magnificent 
balls and concerts, — were literally, to him, sheer van- 
ity, and vexation of spirit. In short, Sir Walter Scott, 
who was too proud to be vain, and too kind-hearted 
to be haughty, appeared as if he had been born to 
play the part of a grand nobleman, with great pos- 
sessions and a stately mansion. It was said that Lord 
Chesterfield was a lord amons^ wits, and a wit amonsc 
lords ; but Scott would not have worn his coronet, 
had he inherited one, among any but members of his 
own order. To his tenants and followers gentle 
and simple, the Lord of Abbotsford was always the 
same unpretending, unassuming, good-natured, and 
considerate man. One of his fine traits, which 
" make the whole world kin," was noticed and chron- 
icled by Lockhart. It seems that there had been 
some discussion between Scott and Tom Purdie, his 
forester and factotum, as to what trees in a particu- 
lar hedge-row ought to be cut down. Scott, with 
some of his friends, had been walking through the 
grounds at Abbotsford ; and, feeling a little fatigued, 
he laid his left hand on Purdie's shoulder, leaning 
heavily on it as they moved on, and famiharly chat- 



376 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1825 

ting with him. After they had got seated on the 
green in front of the house, Purdie asked Scott " to 
speak a word." They withdrew together into the 
garden, and Scott presently returned with a particu- 
larly comic expression of face. As soon as his man 
was out of sight, he said, " Will ye guess what he 
has been saying, now ? Well, this is a great satisfac- 
tion ! Tom assures me that he has thought the mat- 
ter out, and will take my advice a!^out the thinning 
of that clump behind Capt. Fergusson's." Tliere is 
a great deal of good humor, as w^ll as good nature, 
in this ; but it is impossible to imagine Tom Moore 
in Scott's place, at Abbotsford, letHng himself down 
(as he would have thought) to Tom Purdie's level, 
or allowing him even the appearance of an independ- 
ent setting-up of his opinion. Like the centurion, 
he would have said " Do this," and probably have 
discharged the man on the spot it he presumed to 
question the wisdom or practicability of doing it. 
Moore, I am afraid, would have even considered it 
infra dig. to have leaned on the shoulder of his hired 
man, and to have familiarly chatted with him, even 
about thinning the plantations, in the company of 
visitors. 

In November, 1825, the perusal of a transcript of 
Lord Byron's " Ravenna Diary " suggested to Sir 
Walter Scott the idea of keeping a journal. Accord- 
ingly, a thick quarto-book with lock and key was ob- 
tained. Mr. Lockhart has used it so freely, from its 
commencement in November, 1825, to May, 1831, 
that it constitutes nearly a fifth of his " Life of 
Scott," to which, indeed, it gives an important auto- 
biographical character. Two copies of this diary 
were privately printed for Mr. Lockhart. From one 
copy he took the copious extracts which he trans- 
ferred into the '' Life : " the other, containing all of 
the original diary, is among the family archives at 



^T. 54.] HIS DIARY. 377 

Abbotsforcl. The extracts given in the " Life " 
throw a flood of light upon the character, conduct, 
motives, and feelings of its author. He became fond 
of this diary, writing in it morning and evening, 
keeping it by him in his stud}^, and occasionally set- 
ting down any anecdote, reminiscence, reflection, or 
speculation, which might occur to him. Thus he was 
enabled to 

" Catch, ere they change, the Cynthia of this minute/' 

Journalizing in this manner is no novelty in our 
recent literature. Bja-on, Ha3'don, and Moore had 
indulged in it. Byron's diaries, like his letters from 
Italy, were written, it may be suspected, with the 
ultimate object of being read by the coterie at Mur- 
ray's. Haydon's, which appear sincere, are too 
deeply imbued with self-adulation to be generally 
interesting. Moore's, continued over a period of 
nearly thirty years, tell us little more than the par- 
ties he had attended, and the fashionable people who 
praised his singing. Now and then he lets us see 
how he wrote his prose and verse, the mechanism of 
his art, the erection of the scaffolding, as it were ; but, 
as a diarist, communicates little that is worth remem- 
bering, — gay anecdotes, livel}^ remarks, witty re- 
torts, and passing compliments to his own genius. 
Unlike Scott, who made a point of not reading the 
reviews, Thomas Moore, who sometimes wrote for 
them, was thin-skinned and sensitive to a degree 
about what they said or did not say. His idea evi- 
dentl}^ was, that a critic who knew and did not praise 
him very warmly must be an enemy and a traitor ; 
and this feeling overflows in his diary. Scott, on 
the other hand, seems to have made an honest record, 
a true outpouring of his mind. He must have known 
that it was also a contribution to the inevitable future 
memoir of his career. 



378 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1825 

Journalizing thus, and engaged on the heavy bio- 
graphy of Napoleon, he also was writing the novel 
of " Woodstock," expecting and intending, as he 
told one of his friends, to make a great hit with some 
scenes in which Oliver Cromwell should take a prom- 
inent part; just as, in former romances, he had intro- 
duced Coeur de Lion, Louis the Eleventh, Mary Stu- 
art, Elizabeth, James the First, Charles the Second, 
Queen Caroline, and Prince Charles Edward. He 
had been so successful in his delineation of these 
illustrious historical characters, that he had no doubt 
of producing an equally spirited portrait of that 
great Lord Protector, who made no vain boast when 
he said, " I shall make the name of Englishman re- 
spected throughout Europe as was the name of an 
antique Roman." 

What is called a commercial crisis or panic afflicts 
England every ten years or so. There was one in 
1825, from the mania for joint-stock speculations ; 
from the excess of imports over exports, the value of 
which had to be paid in cash ; from the drain of spe- 
cie to work the mines of South America ; from the 
failure of banks issuing notes, without capital to re- 
deem them ; and from the treasure of the Bank of 
England being so much exhausted, that it could only 
cash its notes by paying sixpences, so that Mr. Hus- 
kisson said England was within twenty-four hours of 
barter. Of course, from the natural sympathy be- 
tween London and her provinces, between the heart 
and the limbs, all parts of the British islands severely 
felt this unexpected ruin. 

Mr. Constable had begun life as a vender of old 
books. The establishment of " The Edinburgh Re- 
view " gave him, by its immediate and immense suc- 
cess, a high status as a publisher. With small cap- 
ital, he had to use credit. He had seen from the 
first how rich was the genius of Walter Scott. It 



/ET. 54.] RUIN. 379 

became a habit for Constable and Ballantyne, pub- 
lisher and printer, to draw accommodation-bills upon 
each other, for Constable to pursue the same system 
with his London agents, and for Scott (who, secretly, 
was Ballantyne's partner) to be paid by promissory- 
notes. 

Constable believed that the panic of 1825 would 
blow over ; and that, if it approached himself, there 
was one certain means of extrication. So he went 
on, not taking much trouble, but remaining chiefly in 
his country-house, organizing the plan of his " Miscel- 
lany;" an idea which, a little later and in more 
careful hands, originated cheap literature. In Edin- 
burgh, the banks reluctantly renewed his outstanding 
bills, because their refusal must cause instant bank- 
ruptcy ; but in London his agents could raise money 
only at usurious rates. 

At the beginning of 1825, Scott had looked for- 
ward to realizing fifteen thousand pounds by '^ Wood- 
stock," '' Napoleon," and other works then in hand. 
A sum of ten thousand pounds, which he raised by 
mortgaging Abbotsford to relieve the publisher and 
printer, was as much lost as if he had cast it into the 
middle of the Atlantic. In the middle of January, 
he found that the ruin had come, '' and proceeded," 
Mr. Lockhart has recorded, ''according to engage- 
ment, to dine at Mr. Skene of Rubislaw's. Mr. 
Skene assures me that he appeared that evening 
quite in his usual spirits, conversing on whatever 
topic was started as easily and gayly as if there had 
been no impending calamity. But, at parting, he 
whispered, ' Skene, I have something to speak to 
you about : be so good as to look in on me as you 
go to the Parliament House to-morrow.' When 
Skene called in Castle Street, about half-past nine 
o'clock, next morning, he found Scott writing in his 
study. He rose, and said, ' My friend, give me a 



380 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1826 

shake of your hand : mine is that of a beggar„' He 
then told him that Ballantyne had just been with 
him, and that his ruin was certain and complete ; 
explaining briefly the nature of his connection with 
the three houses whose downfall must that morning 
be made public. He added, ' Don't fancy I am going 
to stay at home to brood idly on what can't be helped. 
I was at work upon " Woodstock " when you came in ; 
and I shall take up the pen the moment I get back 
from court. I mean to dine with you again on Sun- 
day, and hope then to report progress to some pur- 
pose.' When Sunday came, he reported accordingly, 
that, in spite of all the numberless interruptions of 
meetings and conferences with his partner, the Con- 
stables, and men of business, — to say nothing of his 
distressing anxieties on account of his wife and daugh- 
ter, — he had written a chapter of his novel every in- 
tervening day." 

Mr. Hary Donaldson, Writer to the Signet, 
Scott's confidential law-adviser and man of busi- 
ness for many years, died in September, 1822, and 
was succeeded by Mr. John Gibson. Since I com- 
menced this book, Mr. Gibson has published some 
recollections,* which are chiefly connected with the 
crash of 1826. He says, " Mr. Donaldson was one 
of Sir Walter's intimate friends, and enjoyed much 
of his confidence in most matters ; though I doubt if 
he was ever made aware of Sir Walter's unfortunate 
connection with mercantile business, as being actu- 
ally a partner in the house of James Ballantyne & 
Co., printers. At least, he never mentioned it to me ; 
and at Mr. Donaldson's death in 1822, when I be- 
came Sir Walter's law-agent, and necessarily enjoyed 
a good deal of his confidence, the fact of his being 
so involved in business was unknown to me till the 

* Reminiscences of Sir Walter Scott, by John Gibson, Writer to the 
Signet. Published by Adam and Charles BlacK, Edinburgh; to whose 
attention I am indebted for an eai'ly copy. 



^T. 55.] IMMENSE LIABILITIES. 381 

catastrophe in January, 1826, when concealment was 
no longer possible." Neither was Ml*. Lockhart in 
this secret until that catastrophe, though he was 
aware of the authorship of " Waverley." It also 
transpired, when it no longer could be concealed, 
that Scott was part owner of '' The Edinburgh Weekly 
Journal," edited by James Ballantyne. 

A slight suspicion on Scott's part was dispelled 
by Constable's sanguine " All's well," and by Mr. 
Cadell's bringing the good tidings that the London 
house. Constable's agents, " had stood the storm." 

Mr. Robert Cadell was Constable's son-in-law, and 
became his partner, on a change in the firm, in 1810. 
He was less sanguine than Constable, who at last 
was compelled to look after his affairs in London. His 
one great idea of extricating himself was, to ask tlie 
Bank of England for a loan of from one hundred thou- 
sand to two hundred thousand pounds on the security 
of the copyright of the Waverley novels ! The system 
of accommodation-bills between Constable and Biallan- 
tyne had been carried on so long and so largely, that, 
when both houses failed. Sir Walter, as Ballantyne's 
secret partner, was responsible for every bill and note 
on which the name of the printing-firm appeared. 
Thus he found himself liable for one hundred and 
twenty thousand pounds ; while his own private debts 
were thirty thousand pounds, for which Abbotsford 
would have been good security. The money he had 
received for works to be written was raised by accom- 
modation-bills. Abbotsford, though now completed, 
was costly, because he had fallen into the habit of 
entertaining crowds, not according to his own rank 
and fortune, but according to theirs. 

Lady Scott was not generally supposed to be a par- 
ticularly sagacious or brilliant woman ; but there was 
wisdom as well as wit in her remark, that '-'- Abbots- 
ford was very like a large hotel, except that people 
did not pay." 



382 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1826 

The Edinburgh banks did not like the bill system, 
especially when the panic was afoot ; but when Mr. 
James Ballantyne stated to Sir William Forbes, the 
banker, that Scott was Ms partner, under a regular 
deed, he was satisfied. After this. Sir Walter called 
upon Mr. Gibson ; explained how the houses of Con- 
stable and Ballantyne were affected ; avowed that he 
was partner in the latter house ; and said, as might 
be expected, that he disliked the idea of being 
publicly made a bankrupt, but, if allowed to exe- 
cute a trust-conveyance for the benefit of his credit- 
ors, would let no man lose by him, if life were spared. 
" Time and I against any two " were his oft-repeated 
words. Within five years he did pa}^ more than half 
the immense sum, with interest, for which he was 
liable. All his household debts were immediately 
paid in full ; and, to quote Mr. Gibson's words, 
*' Meeting with much sympathy from his creditors, 
— at least, with very few exceptions, — he continued 
to labor until all the creditors of the house of Bal- 
lantyne & Co., as well as his own private creditors, 
received large dividends during his life, and at his 
death received payment in full from the proceeds of 
some policies of insurance on his life, the premiums 
on which he had regularly paid, and from the sale of 
some of his copyrights." 

Friends came to him with offers of assistance. The 
banks, his principal creditors, were kind and forbear- 
ing. Mr. Cadell, who saw the basis of future fortune 
in the Scott copyrights, was afraid of the evil to arise 
from their forced and hasty sale. As for Scott him- 
self, he had made up his mind that he had seen Ab- 
botsford for the last time, and, in a spasm of mental 
agon3^ wrote down, '' My poor people, whom I loved 
so well I " But his work went steadily on in Edin- 
burgh, with scarcely an intermission for exercise or 
conversation. 



^CT. 55.] WILLIAM LAIDLAW. 383 

Several of Sir Walter's letters to Laidlaw, his factor, 
at this time, not given by Mr. Lockhart, convey the 
facts very clearly. "My present occupations com- 
pleted," he wrote, " will enable me to lay down, in 
the course of the summer, at least twenty thousand 
pounds of good cash ; which, if things had remained 
sound among the booksellers, would have put me on 
velvet. The probable result being that we must be 
accommodated with the delay necessary, our plan is 
to sell the house and furniture in Castle Street, and 
Lady S. and Anne to come to Abbotsford with a view 
of economizing, while I take lodgings in Edinburgh, 
and work hard till the session permits me to come out. 
All our farming operations must, of course, be stopped 
so soon as they can with least possible loss, and stock, 
&c., disposed of. In short, every thing must be done 
to avoid outlay. At the same time, there can be no 
want of comfort. I must keep Peter and the horses 
for Lady Scott's sake, though I make sacrifices in my 
own case." After a few minor details (including ••' As 
for Tom [Purdie], he and I must go to the grave to- 
gether "), Sir Walter, from a full and tender heart, 
added, '' For you, my dear friend, we must part, — 
that is, as laird and factor ; and it rejoices me to think 
that your patience and endurance, which set me so 
good an example, are like to bring round better days. 
You never flattered my prosperity ; and, in my adver- 
sitjs it is not the least painful consideration that I 
cannot any longer be useful to you. But Kaeside, I 
hope, will still be your residence ; and I Avill have 
the advantage of your company and advice, and prob- 
ably 3^our services as amanuensis. Observe, I am not 
in indigence, though no longer in affluence : and, if I 
am to exert myself in the common behalf, I must have 
honorable and easy means of life, although it will be my 
inclination to observe the most strict privacy, both to 
save expense and also time ; nor do we propose to see 



384 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1826 

any one but yourself and the Fergussons." The old 
sanguine hopes reblooraed : " Three or four years 
of my favor with the public, if my health and life 
permit, will make me better off than ever I have 
been in my life." He concluded, " Lady Scott's 
spirits were affected at first ; but she is getting better. 
For myself, I feel like the Eildon Hills, — quite firm, 
though a little cloudy. I do not dislike the path 
which lies before me. I have seen all that society 
can show, and enjoyed all that wealth can give me ; 
and I am satisfied much is vanity, if not vexation 
of spirit. I am arranging my affairs, and mean to 
economize a good deal ; and I will pay every man his 
due." 

Laidlaw, who saw the family at Edinburgh, wrote, 
" Miss Scott does not seem to be quite aware or sen- 
sible of any thing but that they are to reside in retire- 
ment at Abbotsford. Lady Scott is rather unwilling 
to believe it, and does not see the necessity of such 
complete retrenchment as Sir Walter tells her is ab- 
solutely necessary. I have dined three times there ; 
and there is not much difference in their manner. 
Sir Walter is often merry ; and so are they all, but, 
oftener still, silent. I think, that, if they were a week 
or two at Abbotsford, they would be more happy than 
they have been for many a day. I am sure that this 
would be the case with Sir Walter ; for the weight of 
such an immense system of bills sent for his signature 
every now and then would be off his mind. I heard 
to-day that the Duke of Somerset and another Eng- 
lish nobleman have written to Sir Walter, offering 
him thirty thousand pounds each, which he has firmly 
refused ; and it is reported that the young Duke of 
Buccleuch has written him, offering to take the whole 
loss on himself, an'd to pay the interest of Sir Walter's 
debt until he comes of age." This is the nobleman 
properly selected to preside at the centenary cele- 



^^- 55-1 , " WOODSTOCK." 385 

bration in Edinburgh.* Three gentlemen were ap- 
pointed trustees, — two on the part of the banks, and 
Mr. Gibson, upon whom the chief labor devolved, on 
the part of Sir Walter Scott, who had resolved to 
devote his future works, as well as those then in 
progress, to pay all the creditors in full. When any 
doubt was expressed of his ability to perform this 
herculean task, he would quote his favorite Spanish 
proverb. 

The house in Castle Street, which Scott owned and 
had so long inhabited, was sold by the trustees, and the 
furniture disposed of by auction. Sir Walter begged 
Mr. Gibson to buy in for him a painting of the Cave 
of Staffa, given to him by the laird; and "another 
trifling thing in the dressing-room, a mahogany thing 
which is called a cat, with a number of legs, so that, 
turning which way it will, it stands upright." He 
adds, " It was my mother's, and she used to have the 
toast set on it before the fire ; and it is not worth five 
shillings of any one's money." Picture and cat, 
humbly representing friendship and filial affection, 
were secured, and are now in Abbotsford. 

" Woodstock," completed about this time, and 
nearly printed off, was placed in the hands of the 
trustees, and sold to Longman & Co. of London. 
Ballantyne, who had seen it through the press, with 
his usual keen criticism, thought that some of the 
tricks were too much in the manner of Mrs. Radcliff 's, 
but highly commended the work as a whole. Con- 
stable's assignees claimed, that, as bills of the late 
publishers had been given for " Woodstock " and " The 
Life of Napoleon," both belonged to them : and they 
also claimed the unwritten novels, for which Consta- 



* In Scott's diary is this entry: "A most generous letter (though not 
more so than I expected) from Walter and Jane, offering to interpose with 
their fortune, &c. God Almighty forbid ! That were too umiatural for me 
to accept, though dutiful and affectionate in them to offer." 
25 



386 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1826 

ble & Co. had given acceptances ; but it was success- 
fally argued that payment in worthless paper was no 
payment at all, and that there was no mode of com- 
pelling a man to give them a novel not yet composed. 
The case was legally decided in favor of Scott ; and 
the sale proceeds of " Woodstock," which was pub- 
lished in June, 1826, enabled the trustees to pay a 
first dividend to the creditors. 

Before this occurred. Sir Walter sustained a heavy 
loss. Lady Scott, who left Edinburgh for Abbotsford 
in March, had been troubled with asthmatic complaints 
for two years, which finally terminated in hydropsy, 
the medicine for which was digitalis. She sank slowly 
and painlessly ; her mind, like her husband's, sadly 
affected by the incurable decline of their little grand- 
son. She had intervals in which her system appeared 
to rally; and, at all times, was serene and composed. 
Scott had to leave her for a short time to attend in 
his place in the Court of Session, and, though he saw 
that recovery was hopeless, did not think that death 
was near. In a few days he received news that all 
was over, and hastened to Abbotsford. He has re- 
corded in his diary the deep emotion and sorrow 
created by the loss of his beloved companion of twenty- 
nine years. She died aged about fifty-one : Sir Wal- 
ter was four years older. His younger daughter 
Anne alone was with him ; but his sons arrived in time 
for the interment in Dryburgh Abbey. A day or two 
after, when he was again alone, he wrote, " The soli- 
tude seemed so absolute ! My poor Charlotte would 
have been in the room half a score of times to see 
if the fire burned, and to ask a hundred kind ques- 
tions." 

Solitary and sad, still the endless work had to pro- 
ceed, — articles for "The Quarterly Reviews " and 
" Blackwood's Magazine ; " '' Napoleon " continued ; 
and " The Chronicles of the Canongate," now com- 
jaaenced. 



^ET. 55.] ROBERT CADELL. 387 

" Woodstock " was well received. The tricks in 
the old Manor House are clumsy contrivances, but 
Cromwell and Charles the Second are placed in strong 
contrast ; Sir Henry Lee is a noble old gentleman ; 
Alice Lee was probably drawn from gentle and loving 
Anne Scott ; and surely Bevis was a loving master's 
recollection of that noble dog Maida. Mr. Gibson 
has recorded that Messrs. Longman paid nine thou- 
sand five hundred pounds for nine thousand eight 
hundred and fifty copies of " Woodstock," which in- 
cluded printing and paper, and constituted the first 
edition. The ultimate copyright was retained, as also 
in all subsequent cases, and has yielded productive 
returns in the collective editions of Scott's works. 

Mr. Robert Cadell's family connection with Mr. 
Constable had terminated in 1825, when his business 
connection was broken by the bankruptcy ; and now he 
entered into business on his own account as publisher, 
and succeeded in placing Sir Walter Scott upon his 
clientage, chiefly in gratitude for his having given a 
timely hint in the dark days of January, which had 
probably prevented him from losing twenty thousand 
pounds more b}^ becoming guarantee for that amount 
in favor of Constable. He, too, was trying to re- 
establish himself in business. Ballantyne, continued 
by his creditors as editor of the newspaper, and lite- 
rary manager of the printing-office (which bears his 
name to this day, and is a prosperous concern), fol- 
lowed the example of his chief, and reduced his do- 
mestic establishment and expenses. There never 
passed an unkind word from Scott to Ballantyne. 
After the sale of his house, Scott lived in Edinburgh 
only during the official terms. 

In Abbotsford, in the summer, some of the old 
friends often dropped in. Capt. Hamilton (author of 
" Cyril Thornton ") then occupied Chiefswood, and was 
a new and good neighbor. The history steadily went 



388 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1826 

on. The intended two seemed likely to reach seven 
volumes ; but the work finally appeared in nine. At 
this time, when every hour was of importance to him, 
Sir Walter was appointed a member of a Royal Com- 
mission to inquire into the Scottish Universities ; an 
unpaid office, conferred by the Government as a high 
personal compliment. 

It became necessary that he should visit London 
to examine the papers in the Colonial Office about 
Bonaparte's captivity in St. Helena ; and an induce- 
ment to visit Paris was a promise from Pozzo di 
Borgo, Russian minister there, to communicate some 
particulars of the early life of his great Corsican 
countryman. His reception in both capitals was 
triumphal. He may not have much increased his 
stock of materials ; and, indeed, four volumes of 
" The Life of Napoleon " were not only written, but 
printed, before he left home : but the change of scene 
and of society gave a wholesome fillip to him ; for, in 
solitude and sadness, 

" The mind, o'erwrought, 
Preys on itself, and is devoured by thought." 

Accompanied by Miss Anne Scott, they reached 
London in the middle of October. 

Besides spending a couple of days with George 
IV. at Windsor, where his welcome was gracious, 
and even warm, Sir Walter freely circulated in Lon- 
don as usual. 

" Quentin Durward," which created a race of 
historical novelists in France, had made his name 
well-known in Parisian society. He saw a number 
of eminent personages in the French capital, gayer 
then than it has a prospect of being for some time ; 
and was taken to see the chief public buildings and 
institutions. One evening at the theatre, by some 
chance, a version of " Ivanhoe " was performed, — 



/ET. 55.] IN PARIS AND LONDON. 389 

superbly got up, with a crowd of soldiers, in helmets 
and hauberks of mail, instead of the little army of 
half a dozen ill-dressed " sticks " indigenous to the 
English and American stage. Charles X., whom 
Sir Walter had often seen in his exile when he 
lived in Holyrood House, gave him a few kind 
words en passant. Four years after, he was again an 
exile, and in Holyrood as before ! Cooper, the 
American novelist, was one of Sir Walter's new 
acquaintances at Paris ; but the two authors do not 
appear to have taken very kindly to each other. 
Scott also met his old friend William Robert Spen- 
cer, once the poet of fashion, rather than the fash- 
ionable poet, in London, crushed, like himself, by 
the panic of 1825, and living how he could in Paris, 
where he had once flourished almost en prince ! 

In this visit to Paris of seven or eight days. Sir 
Walter had little time or opportunity for collecting 
information. In London he was more fortunate ; for 
he was shown the documents he required in the 
Colonial Office and the Admiralty. The Duke of 
Wellington presented him with " a bundle of re- 
marks on Bonaparte's Russian campaign, written in 
his carriage during his late mission to St. Petersburg, 
and furiously scrawled." Sir Walter gave his last sit- 
ting to Sir Thomas Lawrence for the portrait which 
George IV. placed in Windsor Castle. By the end 
of November, he was home to resume his official 
duties. 

It being impossible to leave his daughter by her- 
self at Abbotsford, she now lived with him in a fur- 
nished house in Walker Street which he had taken. 
In his tour, he had received rheumatism into his 
system from the dampness of French beds ; his 
lameness, always aggravated by bodily ailment, had 
painfully increased ; his daily exercise was gradually 
diminished to a walk to the Court of Session and 



890 SIR WALTER SCOTT. £1826 

back ; and hence the sluggishness of his circulation 
induced chilblains, which so much affected his fingers, 
that his writing became ahnost illegible. His Satur- 
day visits to Abbotsford were nearly suspended : 
he could not spare the time. The year 1826, how- 
ever, was welcomed out, if I so may say, in the 
stately hall which he had raised ; and he saw a few 
friends, — not in the old grand style, but with the 
old good welcome. Here too, not being able to pro- 
ceed with his " Napoleon " for want of the numerous 
and bulky authorities, he paid up his arrears of cor- 
respondence. He could not keep up with the world, 
he said, " without shying a letter now and then." 

No evil is without some alleviation ; and this was 
Scott's experience now. He had no pecuniary pro- 
visions to embarrass him ; he was freed from many pub- 
lic duties forced upon him as a man of consideration ; 
and was relieved from the expense of a great hospital- 
ity, and the waste of time connected with it. 

How hard he worked at this time may be judged 
from the fact, that he had written a volume of '^ Wood- 
stock " in fifteen days, including attendance in court, 
and some days' idleness to let imagination brood on 
the task a little ; and thought, that, for a bet, he 
could have done it in ten. " A volume at the cheap- 
est," he calculated, " is worth a thousand pounds. 
This is working at the rate of twenty-four thousand 
pounds per annum." The day-dream of Alnaschar, 
in " The Arabian Nights," was akin to this. 

Early in 1826, important debates took place in the 
British Parliament on the monetary system, or want 
of system, which had caused the panic of 1825 ; and 
the Government introduced a measure prohibiting any 
bank from issuing notes of less value than five pounds, 
and preventing private banks from issuing their own 
notes as money. This did not extend to Ireland. 
There arose in Scotland — where very httle specie has 



^T. 55.] " MALACHI MALAGROWTHER." 391 

at any time been in circulation, small notes being uni- 
versally circulated — a general feeling of resistance, 
which might be called insurrectionary. On one hand, 
the banks saw a future diminution of business and 
profits; on the other, merchants and traders of all 
degrees saw a future of limited monetary accommoda- 
tion. Sir Walter went to the rescue, and wrote three 
letters of '^ Malachi Malagrowther," first published in 
Ballantyne's paper, and then in a pamphlet by Black- 
wood. They expressed the unanimous feeling of 
Scotland, and were acutely and promptly answered 
by Mr. J. W. Croker, Secretary of the Admiralty, in 
the government organ in London. The end was, that 
the Scotch banks were not meddled with, and there- 
by a heavy blow at Scottish trade was warded off. 
Scotland acknowledged that it was her great master 
of fiction who had thus successfully arrayed facts, 
figures, and argument against an unwarrantable inter- 
ference with the safe banking system under which 
her sons had so well thriven. Scotland, methinks, 
might then have done honor to herself by presenting 
her gifted son and champion with some substantial 
mark of gratitude. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



Large Profits of Scott's Authorship. — Cost of Abbotsford. — Description of 
the Mansion. — Ancient Relics. — Portico, Hall, Drawing- Room. Dining- 
Eoom, Armory. Library, Study, Breakfast-Parlor. — Portraits. Relics, and 
Curiosities. — Ways of the House. — Mr. Cadell clears off the Debts. — 
Present Ownership. — Miss Mary Morrlce Hope-Scott. — Heir Presump- 
tive. 

1826. 

THE question may be asked, " By what enchant- 
ment did Walter Scott, born to no inheritance, 
and who all but failed in the profession to which he 
belonged, — for his official appointments came to him 
entirely through the favor and patronage of power- 
ful friends, — purchase the land and build the man- 
sion of Abbotsford?" Moore — who was always in 
difficulties, getting money in advance from his pub- 
lishers, and more than once compelled to stay at a 
nobleman's house some days over the time he was 
invited for, because he had no cash to pay for the 
carriage which was to take him away — must have 
looked with admiration at " the outward and visible 
signs " of Scott's prosperity. His joint expenditure 
in Edinburgh and Abbotsford cannot have been less 
than ten thousand pounds a year. From his two pub- 
lic offices, and the interest upon property inherited by 
himself and wife (she had over twenty thousand 
pounds on the death of her brother in India), he had 
a large certain income, independent of the proceeds 
of his authorship. 

Mr. William Howitt, an author who once was a 

392 



^^- 55-] PROFITABLE AUTHORSHIP. 393 

publisher, has calculated pretty closely the aggre- 
gate amount realized to Sir Walter Scott by°his 
writings : — 

'' He made about fifteen thousand pounds by his 
poetry ; but by his prose he made by a single Vork 
his five thousand pounds, his ten thousand pounds, 
his twelve thousand pounds. His facihty was equal 
to his success. It was no long and laborious task to 
complete one of these truly golden volumes : they 
were thrown off as fast as he could write ; and, in 
three months, a novel worth eight or ten thousand 
pounds in the market was finished." The calcula- 
tion by author and publishers was, that Scott cleared 
four hundred pounds by each thousand copies. 
Therefore, as there were fifty-one thousand copies 
of "Waverley" sold when Lockhart published the 
"Life" in 1836, this work alone produced twenty 
thousand pounds to the author; " Rob Roy " and 
'' Guy Mannering " being still more profitable. Sixty- 
five thousand pounds by these three works alone ! 
Then there were the " Napoleon ; " twelve volumes 
of "Tales of a Grandfather," very popular, — this 
epitome of Scottish history being a text-book in the 
Scottish schools ; fifteen hundred pounds for a history 
of Scotland for Lardner's " Cabinet Cyclopaedia ; " 
editions of Dryden and Swift ; " Demonology and 
Witchcraft " for " The Fannly Library ; " " Paul's Let- 
ters to his Kinsfolk ; " three hundred pounds for 
three essays for " The Encyclopaedia Britannica ; " 
five hundred pounds for a semi-German drama writ- 
ten at the beginning of his career ; one thousand 
pounds for a dramatic sketch written in two morn- 
ings ; thirty-five articles for the " Edinburgh," " Quar- 
terly," and "Foreign Quarterly" Reviews, — paid fifty 
pounds for each, at the lowest estimate. The amount 
actually received by Scott himself cannot have been 
less than two hundred and fifty thousand pounds. 



394 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1826 

Set against this the cases of Lord Byron, who thought 
his publisher very liberal, and received fifteen thou- 
sand pounds from him during his brilliant career ; and 
Moore, who in forty years made an aggregate of about 
thirty-five thousand pounds, including five hundred 
pounds a year which Mr. Power of London paid him 
for his songs. When Scott, poet and romancist, 
found that the purse of Fortunatus was in his hand, 
his imagination revelled in the dream of obtaining an 
estate, building a castle, and founding a titled family 
which should rank among the ennobled Scotts of the 
border (Buccleugh, Montagu, and Polwarth), with 
whom he 

" Claimed kindred there, and had his claim allowed." 

When I visited Abbotsford, for the first and last 
time, thirty years ago, permitted through Mr. Ca- 
dell's kindness to employ two days in seeing every 
thing, an estimate of the cost of the estate and man- 
sion was put into my hand, with the assurance that 
it was correct. I have compared it with the amounts 
mentioned in Lockhart's book as paid for several of 
these purchases, and the sums agree. Here is the 
list: — 

Abbotsford, or Clarty Hole £4,000 

Kaeside 4,100 

Outfield of Toftfield 6,000 

Toftfield and Parks 10,000 

Abbotslee 3,000 

Field at Langside 500 

Shearing Flat 3,500 

Broomielees ......... 4,200 

Short Acres and Scrabtree Park 700 

Planting, draining, &c 5,000 

House and Garden 30,000 

Total £71,000 



^ET. 55.] THE ABBOTSFORD MANSION. 395 

If this money had been invested in the Funds at 
three per cent, it would have yielded a clear income 
of over two thousand pounds per annum. When I 
was at Abbotsford, in 1840, the rental of the estate 
was not seven hundred pounds, — about one per cent 
on the money expended. Since then, the growth of 
the trees, allowing sales of timber and bark, may 
have increased the income to a thousand pounds a 
year. Land and building were not profitable to Scott ; 
but he had his hobby like most men, and it was 
costly. 

The greatest practical romance of Scott's life was 
the improvement of the almost sterile soil, and the 
construction of the quaint, picturesque edifice, as 
much castle as mansion, of Abbotsford. The most 
fascinating scheme among all the wild dreams of his 
fancy, it has been said, was to purchase lands ; to 
raise himself a fairy castle ; to become, not the min- 
strel of a lord, as were many of those of old, but a 
minstrel-lord himself. The practical romance grew. 
On the banks of the Tweed then began to rise the 
fairy castle. Quaint and beautiful as one of his de- 
scriptions it arose : lands were added to lands, over 
hill and dale spread the dark embossment of future 
woods, and Abbotsford began to be spoken of far and 
wide. The poet had chosen his seat in the midst of 
the very land of ancient poetry itself. Every man 
of any note called him friend. The most splendid 
equipages crowded the way towards his house ; the 
feast was spread continually as if it were the feast 
of a king ; while on the balcony, ranging along the 
whole front, stalked to and fro, in his tartans, the wild 
piper. Arms and armor were ranged along the 
walls and galleries of his hall. There were portraits 
of the most noted persons who had figured in his 
la3^s and stories, — as of Claverhouse, Monmouth, the 
Pretender, the severed head of the Queen of Scots ; 



396 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1826 

with those of brother-poets, — Dryden, Thomson, 
Prior, and Gay. There were the escutcheons of all 
the great clan-chieftains blazoned round the ceiling 
of his hall, and swords, daggers, pistols, and instru- 
ments of torture, from the times and scenes he had 
celebrated. 

The mansion, as regards its architecture, is a mix- 
ture of the castellated, Gothic, and domestic. It oc- 
cupies considerable ground, but is deficient in mas- 
siveness and loftiness. If you expect a great castle, 
you will be disappointed. It resembles more than 
any thing else an old French chateau, with its minia- 
ture towers and small windows grafted upon an 
Elizabethan mansion. On a castellated gateway is 
hung an iron collar (Scottice, " the jougs "), used 
for holding culprits by the neck, brought from 
Thrieve Castle, the ancient seat of the Douglases, in 
Galloway. Within is the house, with portico, bay 
windows of painted glass, battlemented gables, and 
turrets. There is a good deal of carved work on the 
corbels and escutcheons ; and through a light screen 
of freestone, finely carved and arched, the garden 
and greenhouse may be seen. On all sides, except 
towards the river, the house connects itself with the 
garden, — according to an old picturesque fashion. 
The house, built of the dark whinstone of the dis- 
trict, with sandstone doorways, windows, and cor- 
nices, has not a very new appearance. On the right 
hand of the portico is a carved image of Scott's favor- 
ite dog Maida ; on the other, a Gothic fountain from 
the old Cross of Edinburgh. A square tower is 
ascended by steps from the outside : at the other end 
is a round tower covered witli ivy, on which the flag- 
staff stands. The house is over a hundred and fifty 
feet long in front, and its walls abound in heraldic and 
other carvings. The porch is copied from the old 
ruined palace of Linlithgow. I should say that there 



^sn:. 55.] " THE HALL. 397 

is an outside gallery, through which John of Skye, 
the piper, used to strut, playing Scotch airs, during 
dinner. 

The porch, upon which gigantic stag's horns are 
fastened, opens into a fine hall, forty feet long and 
twenty feet wide and high, which is lined with dark 
oak wainscot, richly carved, which, as Scott said, 
was " a haul from the old Abbey of Dumferline," 
presented to him by the magistrates and the elders 
of the parish. The ceiling is a series of arches, 
also of carved oak, with an armorial shield, embla- 
zoned' in colors and metals, upon the centre of each 
beam. There are sixteen of these shields, display- 
ing the arms of Scott's family, — three or four of 
which are blank, the poet not being able to trace 
the maternal as high as the paternal line. Around 
the cornice are two rows of escutcheons, bearing the 
arms of thirty to forty of the old chieftains of the 
Border. A running inscription all round, in black- 
letter, reads thus : " These be the Coat Arms of the 
Clannis and Chief Men of name wha keepit the 
marchys of Scotland in the auld time for the Kynge. 
Trewe were they in their tyme, and in their defence 
God them defendit." There are from thirty to forty 
shields thus distinguished, every name having fig- 
ured in " The Border Minstrelsy." Over and round a 
doorway are the shields of Scott's particular personal 
friends. The room is crowded with curiosities, — an- 
cient armor, cukasses and eagles from Waterloo, hel- 
mets and spurs, swords with a history to each, Indian 
chain mail, and massive chairs from Scone Palace. 

The other show-apartments are the drawing-room, 
dining-room, breakfast-room, armory, library, and 
study. Raeburn's portrait of Scott (sitting by a 
ruined wall with two dogs) is in the drawing- 
room, — dark, as all that artist's pictures are, but a 
good likeness, though the original was a fair man, 



398 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1826 

with sandy hair. Lady Scott's portrait is also there. 
Mr. Hawthorne was struck with it, and says it shows 
" a brunette, with black hair and eyes, very pretty, 
warm, vivacious, and un-English in her aspect." 

The dining-room, a plain, well-proportioned apart- 
ment, contains a number of historical portraits, the 
most remarkable of which represent Lord Essex, the 
Parliamentary general ; Nell Gwynne, still lovelier 
than that in Hampton-Court Palace by Lely ; Thom- 
son and Dryden ; Oliver Cromwell when young ; the 
unfortunate Duke of Monmouth, his mother, and 
wife ; Charles the Twelfth of Sweden ; Sir Walter 
Raleigh ; the wives of Charles I. and James II. ; Prior 
and Gay, by Jervas ; Hogarth, by himself ; and 
Old Beardie, one of the Scotts who allowed his beard 
to grow after the " martyrdom " of Charles the First. 
In this room, also, is what Mrs. Hemans, who 
saw Abbotsford in 1827, characterized as " a ssid^ fear- 
ful picture of Queen Mary." It was painted by 
Amias Cawood, on the day after the decapitation, in 
the hall of Fotheringay Castle, which took place on 
the eighth da}^ of February, 1587 ; and was presented 
to Sir Walter by a Prussian nobleman, whose family 
had possessed it for two centuries. It is " a most 
dep.th-like performance," resembling the coins, but 
not the portraits, of Mary Stuart. The head is on a 
charger ; and a good deal of black hair falls in masses 
around the neck, so as to conceal not entirely the 
manner of the death. In his " English Note-Books," 
speaking of the pictures at Abbotsford, Mr. Haw- 
thorne says, " The one that struck me most, and very 
much indeed, was the head of Mary, Queen of Scots, 
literally with the head cut off, and lying in a dish. 
The hair curls or flows all about it : the face is of a 
death-like hue, but has an expression of quiet after 
much pain and trouble, — very beautiful, very sweet 
and sad ; and it affected me strongly with the horror 



iET. 55.] MARY STUART. 399 

and strangeness of such a head being severed from 
the body. Methinks I should not hke to have it al- 
ways in the room with me." This portrait does not 
in the slightest degree realize the startling and pain- 
ful description of Mary's execution given in Froude's 
'' History of England." He tells how, after the sec- 
ond blow, " at once a metamorphosis was witnessed, 
strange as was ever wrought by wand of fabled en- 
chanter. The coif fell off, and the false plaits. The 
labored illusion vanished. The lady who had knelt 
before the block was in the maturity of grace and love- 
liness. The executioner, when he raised the head as 
usual to show it to the crowd, exposed the withered 
features of a grizzled, wrinkled old woman." In fact, 
she was only forty -four years old ; but care had aged 
her. No doubt the ladies who attended her, — Eliza- 
beth Kennedy, and Barbara Mowbray, wife of her Sec- 
retary Curie, — and who prepared her corpse for in- 
terment, replaced the flowing hair. They could easily 
have done so, inasmuch as her recently-published 
wardrobe-accounts show that her Majesty possessed 
over one hundred perukes of various hues and 
fashions ! 

The dining-room, when fully lighted, presented a 
magnificent appearance. From the ceiling hung a 
large and handsome chandelier, which had formerly 
adorned some stately palace. The rule, when din- 
ner was served in this apartment, — which rarely 
occurred unless more than six or eight partook of 
it, — was, in spring and autumn, to light this lustre 
beforehand, though invisibly. On the approach of 
darkness, instead of the usual interruption and pa- 
rade of having wax-candles brought in, a single touch 
outside would produce a full and sudden blaze of 
light from the oil-gas made on the premises, which 
could be moderated to any degree, and made the 
scene brilliant beyond description. The ordinary 



400 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1826 

family-dinner was usually served in the breakfast- 
parlor with less state and more snugness. In social 
intercourse, Scott did much fancy the " halls where 
comfort dies in vastness." Except on state occasions, 
Sir Walter imitated the example of Napoleon, and did 
not sit long at table. The custom was to adjourn to 
the library, where conversation, alternated by Scotch 
songs from his daughters, made the time rapidly pass 
on. There was always supper about ten ; soon after 
which the party broke up for the night. 

The armory is a narrow, low-arched room, lighted 
by a blazoned window, and crowded with curiosities 
like a museum. Chief among these are Roman spears 
discovered in the neighborhood ; matchlocks of the fif- 
teenth century; Queen Mary's offering-box, — a small 
iron coffer, found in Holyrood House ; the rifle of 
Hofer, the Tyrolean patriot, presented by his widow 
to Sir Humphry Davy, and given by him to Scott ; 
the old wooden lock of the Tolbooth of Selkii'k ; the 
purse of Rob Roy (with pistol inserted in the lock, as 
described in the novel), and his gun, with the initials 
R.M.C. (Robert Macgregor Campbell) engraved round 
the touch-hole ; the sword of Charles L, presented by 
him to the Marquis of Montrose ; and the pistols of 
Napoleon, found in his carriage after the battle of 
Waterloo. There also are some swords of German 
executioners ; the iron crown of the martyr Wishart ; 
the pistols of Claverhouse, all of steel, and inlaid with 
silver; thumbkins and the "boots" with which the 
Covenanters were tortured, as described in " Old Mor- 
tality ; " and the two great keys of the Tolbooth of 
Edinburgh, found after the burning of the doors by 
the mob who seized and hung Capt. Porteus, the 
incident upon which much of the interest of ''The 
Heart of Mid-Lothian " turns. There was a modern 
Scottish claymore, in a magnificent silver sheath, pre- 
sented to Sir Walter, either by the City of Edinburgh 



-ffiT. 55.] THE LIBRARY. 401 

or the Highland Chieftains, for his successful exer- 
tions during the royal visit in 1822. Mrs. Hemans 
was struck with the number, variety, and personal 
as well as historical interest of the swords in this 
armory, which Sir Walter took pleasure in exhibiting 
to her. " Oh the bright swords I " she said in one 
of her letters. " I must not forget to tell you how I 
sat like Minna in ' The Pirate ' (though she stood 
or moved, I believe, the very * queen of swords'). 
I have the strongest love for the flash of glittering 
steel : and Sir Walter brought out I know not how 
many gallant blades to show me, — one which had 
fought at Killiecrankie ; and one which had belonged 
to the young Prince Henry, James the First's son, 
and which looked of as noble a race and temper as 
that with which Coeur de Lion severed the block of 
steel in Saladin's tent." 

The library, lighted by windows looking out upon 
the Tweed, contains over fifty thousand volumes, — 
many upon Scottish history, magic, and antiquities. 
Over the fireplace is Sir William Allan's full-length 
portrait of the poet's eldest son. The copy of the 
Stratford monumental bust of Shakspeare presented 
by Mr. Bullock (as I shall presently more particu- 
larly mention), also Chantrey's marble bust of Sir 
Walter, and one of Wordsworth, are there. The 
silver urn presented by Lord Byron stands on a 
porphyry table. There are a set of beautiful ebony 
chairs, which, with a corresponding cabinet in the 
drawing-room, were presented by George IV. Two 
boxwood chairs, exquisitely carved, brought from 
Italy, and once belonging to some ancient cardinal, 
were gifts from Constable. 

Sir Walter's study, or writing-room, contains books 
of reference ; and, by a staircase in one of the towers, 
there was access to his bedroom. In a closet at- 
tached to this study are arranged his uniforms as 

28 



402 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1826 

yeomann'-officer and member of the Celtic Society, 
and the last suit he ever wore, — a bottle-green coat, 
plaid waistcoat of small pattern, gray plaid trousers, 
and white hat. " Xear these," Mr. Howitt adds, 
"hang his walking-stick and 'his boots and walk- 
ing-shoes." In the winter, he usually wore a shep- 
herd's large woollen bonnet, with a boss or cut-down 
tassel in the centre of the crown. There is also on 
the chimney-piece a German light-machine, which did 
not often work well, and was placed on the retired 
list ; the old-fashioned steel and flint (this was before 
friction-matches were invented) being employed to 
strike a Hght on each morning when he wished to 
light his own fire. 

In the study, which really was the author's work- 
shop, there is only a simple table, upon which still 
remains the massive silver inkstand always used by 
Scott, and constantly kept clear of ink-stains, almost 
as bright as if it were a recent acquisition. Sir Wal- 
ter was neat, even methodical, in his habits, and 
eschewed all Uterary litter. He kept his papers in 
most exact and regular order, each document duly 
inscribed with its date and the name. of its writer or 
subject, and professionally tied with red tape. He 
was careful, even particular, with his books, — the 
majority, which he considered worth the honor and 
cost, being handsomely bound and lettered ; and, al- 
most every summer, he had a handy book-binder at 
Abbotsford, who made necessary repairs, re-touching 
the gilding, and re-pasting the loosening title-labels. 
When he lent a book out of the house, — which was 
seldom, — he took a piece of wood the size of the vol- 
ume, quarto, octavo, duodecimo, as the case might be ; 
pasted on one of the edges a slip of paper, on which 
were written the title of the work, borrower's name, 
and place of abode, date of lending, and day on which 
it ought to be returned ; and put this upon the shelf 



^CT. 55-] THE WALLACE CHAIR. 403 

in the place whence the book had been removed ; and 
there it stood, a record and a reminder, until the vol- 
ume was returned. 

This was a great check upon borrowing, and may 
be advantageously applied in any latitude. There 
are only two chairs in Sir Walter's study, one of 
which has a sort of historical reputation. It was a 
present fi'om Mr. Train, already mentioned, who may 
be said to have devoted himself to Scott in many 
ways. Robroyston. in the county of Sterling, was 
the house in which Sir WiUiam Wallace was betrayed 
to the English by Monteith of Ruskie. The walls 
alone remained, in which some butts of the rafters 
were visible when Mr. Train ^dsited the place. As 
the ruin was about to be removed, Mr. Train pur- 
chased these remnants, and had a chair of antique 
fashion, after the model of one in Hamilton Palace, 
made out of the sound parts of the wood, which, 
being as hard as bone, was covered with emblematic 
carvings ; and a brass plate is inserted, bearing an ap- 
propriate inscription, with the donor's and receiver's 
names. How highly Scott valued it may be judged 
fi'om his having placed it in his own private room. 
This is connected, of course, T^-ith the library. In 
the breakfast-parlor, when there were few or no 
visitors. Sir Walter often read : it contained a pyra- 
midically-shaped handy table, with room for many 
books to lie open upon it at once, and turning upon 
a pivot. There were books here also for hghter 
reading. It need scarcely be said that the number 
of presentation-copies received at Abbotsford was 
very great. It was said, that, when Scott got a book 
from an unknown author, he acknowledsred it at 
once before reading it, and thus evaded any allusion 
to its contents. Frequently, after perusal, he would 
write at lensfth to the author, crivinor his own views 
upon the subject, and usually complimenting him; 



404 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1826 

but he would not commend a work unless he thought 
it was well designed or well executed. He liked to 
encourage young writers if he could. After Lady 
Scott's death, in 1826, Miss Anne Scott, the second 
daughter, had charge of the domestic menage^ and 
quietly introduced a more orderly system into the 
household than had previously existed. She devoted 
herself to her father ; and he always appreciated her 
care and affection. Almost always, at Abbotsford, 
she joined him at breakfast ; if not, disdaining the 
proxy service of any " neat-handed Phillis," he made 
breakfast himself, and then went back into his study 
and resumed writing. In this cheerful breakfast- 
parlor — most things at Abbotsford are left as he had 
left them — is a series of beautiful water-color draw- 
ings, made by Turner, the great landscape-painter, 
and other eminent English artists, to illustrate the 
Provincial Antiquities of Scotland, and presented by 
the publishers to Sir Walter Scott, who had edited 
that attractive work. Over the fire-place is a large 
oil-painting by Rev. John Thompson of Duddingstou, 
the subject being Fast Castle, which is popularly sup- 
posed to have been the Wolf 's Craig so well described 
in " The Bride of Lammermoor." There is also a 
bust of Henry Mackenzie. 

In Abbotsford, one special accommodation was pro- 
vided, which is rarely to be found in country-houses, 
whether of high or low degree. The bed-rooms were 
numerous, and generally the reverse of spacious ; but 
there was a Bible upon every bureau, a tolerably well- 
filled book-shelf, and a writing-table, well supplied 
with paper, good pens, constantly-replenished ink- 
stands, and red and black sealing-wax. Every table 
in the recesses of the noble library was supplied in 
a similar manner. Elsewhere, as many of my readers 
may have experienced, many a letter is unwritten 
by visitors in large mansions from the difficulty of 



.«T. 55.] OWNERSHIP OF ABBOTSFORD. 405 

obtaining even- an ink-bottle. So those who knew 
the ways of Abbotsford had no occasion to hunt for 
tinder-box and taper ; for most of the bed-rooms were 
lighted with oil-gas, which was lighted at dusk, though 
at so low a degree, that, unless the stop-cock were 
touched, the consumption was exceedingly small, 
and the flame scarcely perceptible. 

I hope that I have not too tediously described the 
more noticeable points of Abbotsford ; but considering 
the time and labor which Sir Walter Scott bestowed 
upon its construction and embellishment, — putting it 
together, one might say, as if he were building up a 
romance, — and the fearful price he paid for it, I 
could not pass it by with mere mention. The man 
was identified with his dwelling ; and we can well 
understand Miss Edgeworth's quick appreciation of 
this, when, as he received her at the arch which gave 
admittance, she exclaimed, " Every thing about you is 
exactly what one ought to have had wit enough to 
dream ! " Mr. Hawthorne, though Abbotsford im- 
pressed him, " not as a real house, intended for the 
home of human beings, — a house to die in and be 
born in, — but as a plaything, something in the 
same category as Horace Walpole's Strawberry Hill," 
says, " In a certain way, however, I understand his 
romances the better for having seen his house, and 
his house the better for having read his romances. 
They throw light on one another." 

My sketch of Abbotsford may properly conclude 
with a brief account of its present ownership and 
occupancy. 

Sir Walter Scott's anxious desire was fulfilled. 
Land and mansion which he left are the property of 
his great-granddaughter. Miss Morrice Hope-Scott, 
born in 1852, now nineteen years old. In 1832-33, 
after Sir Walter's death, his son-in-law and executors, 
taking counsel together, ascertained that fifty-four 



406 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1826 

thousand pounds of the debt remained unpaid. A life- 
insurance for twenty-two thousand pounds, and some 
money in the hands of the trustees, reduced this to 
thirty thousand pounds. Mr. Robert Cadell, Scott's 
publisher and friend, advanced this large sum, simply 
on being allowed the profits to be derived from Sir 
Walter's copyrights and literary remains until this 
advance was paid off. But, besides the above com- 
mercial debt, there was a further liability for ten thou- 
sand pounds more, which Scott had raised by a mort- 
gage upon Abbotsford, to sustain Constable, in Decem- 
ber, 1825. The library, furniture, plate, curiosities, 
antiquities, &c., which the creditors had handsomely 
presented to Scott at Christmas, 1830, in acknowl- 
edgment of the wonderful and successful efforts he 
had made for tJiem^ had been bequeathed to his son, 
the second Sir Walter Scott, burthened with a pay- 
ment of five thousand pounds, for his younger children, 
Anne and Charles. It was a condition of Sir Wal- 
ter's will that the Abbotsford mortgage should be 
"lifted," by the profit of his literary property, when- 
ever the commercial debts were discharged, and that 
whatever remained should be divided equally among 
his four children. There also was a subscription in 
London to raise a fund for the preservation of 
Abbotsford in the family of its illustrious founder. I 
have the " second London list " before me, commen- 
cing with, " Amount already advertised, .£3,064. 9s." 
This second list contains over <£ 1,100 more. On 
the whole, nearly X 8,000 was thus raised to pay the 
debt on the library and museum, — the balance to go 
towards the mortgage on the estate. In 1839, the 
second Sir Walter Scott had to go to India in com- 
mand of his cavalry regiment, and died on his return 
to England in 1847. It appeared, then, that notwith- 
standing the large sale of his father's writings, though 
the creditors had all been paid off by means of Mr. 



^T. 55.] THE DEBT CLEARED OFF. 407 

Cadell's liberal advance in February, 1833, much of 
this loan and part of the old debt on the estate re- 
mained unpaid. At this time (1847), Charles Scott 
and his two sisters (Mrs. Lockhart and Anne Scott) 
also were dead. There remained two grand-children 
of Sir Walter's, — Walter Scott Lockhart, his actual 
lineal descendant and successor ; and Charlotte Lock- 
hart, who, in August, 1847, married Mr. James Rob- 
ert Hope, barrister (now Queen's counsel), who, tak- 
ing the poet's name, is now Mr. J. Hope-Scott. 

Mr. Cadell offered to cancel his own large claim, 
and pay off the mortgage, on condition that Sir 
Walter's share in the copyrights should be trans- 
ferred to himself, possessor of the other moiety. This 
was done ; and in May, 1847, the estate and house 
of Abbotsford, free of encumbrance, passed into the 
proprietorship of Cornet Lockhart. On his death, 
unmarried, his rights were inherited by his sister, 
Mrs. Hope-Scott. On her death, her only daughter. 
Mary Morrice Hope-Scott, became possessed of Abbots- 
ford. The estate is administered by her father, who, 
having become a Roman Catholic since his second 
marriage, in 1861, to Lady Victoria Howard, has 
brought his daughter up in that faith, and erected a 
Catholic chapel as an addition to the mansion of 
Abbotsford. In the event of Miss Hope-Scott's mar- 
riage, her husband must take the name of Scott. 
Should she die without issue, the property — but not 
the baronetcy, which was limited to " heirs male of his 
body lawfully begotten " — will descend to Sir Wal- 
ter's nephews, sons of his elder brother. Major Tho- 
mas Scott, who died in Canada in 1823. The eldest 
of these has resided in the United States for many 
years. 

It is gratifying to record that Mr. Cadell did not 
finally lose by his generous consideration for the heirs 
of Abbotsford. He cleared off all the debts, and 



408 



SIR WALTER SCOTT. 



[1826. 



died rich; having, before his death in 1849, disposed 
ot his interest in the copyrights to Adam & C. Black 
the well-known Edinburgh publishers, who have oiven 
fccott s works a more extensive circulation than the 7 
ever had received in their author's lifetime 





::^-<^z^c 



9Z^ C^^^^iij^^/;; 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Authorship of "Waverley" acknowledged. — Thirty-five in the Secret.— 
"Life of Napoleon" published. — Affair with Gen. Gourgaud. — Compli- 
ments from Goethe. — " Chronicles of the Canongate." — " Waverley " 
Copvrights. — Scott's Religious Discourses. — Greenshields the Sculptor. 
— Opus Magnum. — "■ Fair Maid of Perth." — ''Anne of Geierstein." — 
William Laidlaw. — " Tales of a Grandfather." — " Letters on Demonology 
and Witchcraft." 

1827 — 1830. 

ON the 23d of February, 1827, a confession was 
publicly made, which was noticed, I suppose, not 
alone in Great Britain, across the Atlantic, and in 
the greater Britain of the United States and the Col- 
onies, wherever the Anglo-Saxon language is spoken 
and read, but in every civilized country where a 
newspaper was published. 

A charitable fund established by Mr. Murray, man- 
ager of the Edinburgh Theatre, in behalf of decayed 
performers, was about being introduced to the world 
by a public dinner. Douglas Jerrold, it may be re- 
membered, said, that, if London were overthrown by 
an earthquake, the survivors would assemble next 
day among the ruins, and have a dinner to celebrate 
the catastrophe, or their own escape. Sir Walter 
Scott was requested to preside at the first dinner in 
aid of this fund ; the custom " across the water " 
being, after appeals from the chairman and other well- 
known or noted speakers, to call upon the guests to 
contribute. This is so general a practice, that he who 
pays a guinea for his dinner-ticket knows that it car- 
ries with it an understanding that an equal amount, 

409 



410 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1827 

at least, shall be subscribed for the charity when the 
list goes round. 

Sir Walter Scott, though to a great extent retired 
from notice in Edinburgh since the cloud had ob- 
scured his fortunes, consented to take the chair, be- 
cause he had a great hking for the drama, and great 
sympathy for all in want. The dinner took place on 
the 23d of February ; and Lord Meadowbank, a Scotch 
judge, and one of Scott's oldest friends, took him 
aside in the ante-room, and asked him whether he 
would object to a distinct and discreet reference to 
the authorship of the Waverley novels ? It had, in 
fact, ceased to be a secret after the creditors' inspec- 
tion of the account-books of Constable and Scott. 
" Do just as you like : only don't say much about so 
old a story." 

So authorized. Lord Meadowbank, in the course 
of the evening, proposed the health of the author of 
" Waverley." Long before the judge had ceased 
speaking, the company had got upon chairs and ta- 
bles (for, on occasion, the grave Scotch become enthu- 
siastic beyond all idea of those who have not wit- 
nessed such demonstrations) ; but, when he finally 
identified " the Great Unknown " with Sir Walter 
Scott, then before them a most remarkable excite- 
ment arose. When it had at last subsided, Sir Wal- 
ter made this reply : — 

" I certainly did not think, in coming here to-day, that I should 
have the task of acknowledging, before three hundred gentlemen, 
a secret, which, considering that it was communicated to more 
than twenty people, has been remarkably well kept. I am now 
at the bar of my country, and may be understood to be on trial 
before Lord Meadowbank as an offender ; and so quietly did all 
who were airt and pairt conduct themselves, that I am sure, that, 
were the panel now to stand on his defiance, every impartial jury 
would bring in a verdict of ' Not provenJ I am willing, however, 
to plead guilty ; nor shall I detain the Court by a long explana- 
tion why my confession has been so long deferred. Perhaps 



^T. 56.] AN author's confession. 411 

caprice might have a considerable share in the matter. I have 
now to say, however, that the merits of these works, if they had 
any, and their faults, are all entirely imputable to myself. Like 
another Scottish criminal of more consequence, one Macbeth, 

' I am afraid to think what I have done: 
Look on't again 1 dare not.' 

" I have thus far unbosomed myself; and I know that my con- 
fession will be reported to the public. I mean, then, seriously to 
state, that, when I say I am the author, I mean the total and un- 
divided author. With the exception of quotations, there is not a 
single word that was not derived from myself, or suggested in the 
course of my reading. The wand is now broken, and the book 
buried. You will allow me further to say, with Prospero, it is 
your breath that has filled my sails, and to crave one single toast 
in the capacity of the author of these novels. I would fain dedi- 
cate a bumper to the health of one who has represented several 
of those characters, of which I had endeavored to give the skele- 
ton, with a truth and liveliness for which I may well be grateful. 
I beg leave to propose the health of my friend Bailie Nicol Jar- 
vie : and I am sure, that, when the author of ' Waverley ' and 
* Rob Roy ' drinks to Nicol Jarvie, it will be received with the just 
applause to which that gentleman has always been accustomed ; 
nay, that you will take care, that, on the present occasion, it shall 
be PRO-Di-Gi-ous ! " (Long and vehement applause.) 

Mr. Mackay. — "My conscience! My worthy father the 
deacon could never have believed that his son would hae sic a 
compliment paid to him by ' the Great Unknown ' ! " 

Sir Walter Scott. — " The Small Known, now, Mr. Bailie," 
&c., &c. 

In my own experience as a journalist, extending 
over forty years, I never found any purely personal 
subject cause so great a sensation as this. ^' Meadow- 
bank taxed me with the novels ; and, to end that farce 
at once, I pleaded guilty : so that splore is ended. As 
to the collection, it has been much cry and little 
woo, as the Deil said when he shore the sow," was 
Scott's quaint record in his diary. It is probable 
that the disclosure was far from beinix a disadvantag-e 
to him in a commercial point of view. The mystery 
had been revealed; and the next Waverley novel, 



412 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1827 

avowedly Sir Walter's, would be read with a particu- 
lar and personal interest. The taking off the mask 
must, by that time, have been a relief to himself. 

The secret had been kept by " upwards of twenty 
persons," Scott said ; but there were many more. I 
can count up Sir Walter's wife, four children and 
daughter-in-law, mother, and brother Thomas, James 
and John Ballantj^ne, Archibald Constable and Rob- 
ert Cadell, Daniel McCorkindale and Daniel Robert- 
son (two persons employed in the printing-office), 
Daniel Terry, William Laidlaw, George Huntly Gor- 
don, Joseph Train, Charles, Duke of Buccleugh, Lady 
Louisa Stuart, Lord Montagu, Lord and Lady Pol- 
warth. Lord Kinedder, Sir Adam Fergusson, Mr. 
Morritt of Rokeby, Mr. and Mrs. Skene of Rubes- 
law, Mr. William Clerk, Mr. Hay Donaldson and 
Mr. John Gibson (his men of business), Mr. Thomas 
Shortreed, Mr. John Richardson of London, Mr. 
Thomas Moore, and Mr. John Gibson Lockhart, his 
son-in-law, literary executor, and biographer. 

It may be suspected that some of the married gen- 
tlemen in this list might have communicated the se- 
cret to their spouses, '' in strict confidence ; " but as, 
though suspected, it was not disclosed, a verdict of 
" Not proven " might be returned in their case. 

Thirty-five persons, then, — twenty-seven men and 
eight women, — certainly knew^ and for a longer or 
shorter time kept^ the most interesting, if not the most 
important, literary secret of the present century ! 

" The Life of Bonaparte " was published in June, 
1827. From its commencement to its completion, 
about two years had elapsed ; but Mr. Lockhart 
thought, that, deducting the time given to his visits 
to Ireland, London, and Paris, and general literary 
w^ork, this historical task had occupied hardly more 
than twelve months. A portion of the ground, how- 
ever, Sir Walter had already covered, several years 



^T. 56.] GEN. GOURGAUD. 413 

before, when historiographer for " The Edinburgh 
Annual Register." Its nine vohimes contained five 
times as much letter-press as " Waverley " or "• Guy 
Mannering." The preliminary view of the French 
Revolution, taken per se, is accurate, well sustained, 
and philosophical. The style, it was said, was too 
rhetorical and flowery ; but he could not disencumber 
himself of his poetical expression. It was conceded 
that his narrative of events was faithful ; and his 
estimate of the character of Napoleon was far more 
favorable than was to be expected from the author 
of the angry diatribe in " The Vision of Don Rod- 
erick," sixteen years before. His researches in the 
Colonial Office, during his last visit to London, had 
made him acquainted with the fact, that Gen. Gour- 
gaud, when one of Napoleon's suite at St. Helena, 
had privately written to the English Government 
that his complaints of ill usage there were utterly 
unfounded ; yet that, after the emperor's death, 
Gourgaud had declared in France that he had been 
harshly treated by Sir Hudson Lowe, his jailer. It 
was stated in the French papers, after Scott's "• Na- 
poleon " was published, that Gen. Gourgaud denied 
the truth of the statement respecting himself, and 
was going to England to call the author to account. 
Inasmuch as Sir Walter had written with copies of 
the St. Helena despatches on his table, he determined 
to adhere to his statement, but had no objection to 
show or even give Gourgaud copies of the official 
documents on which it was founded. Thinking it 
probable that he might receive a challenge, he en- 
gaged his old friend Mr. William Clerk to act as his 
second. Thers was no expenditure of powder. The 
French officer published a letter, in which he charged 
the Scotch author with conspiring with the British 
Government to injure his character. Sir Walter had 
this " Refutation " reprinted in an Edinburgh journal, 



414 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [^^27 

with a long reply from himself, fully stating the case, 
and daring Gen. Gourgaud to the proof that tlie cor- 
respondence, preserved among the official records of 
the Colonial Office, was false and forged. Nothing 
more was heard of the duello. 

A correspondence far more gratif3dng took place 
about this time. The " Napoleon " elicited a gratify- 
ing criticism, in a private letter to Scott, from the 
illustrious Goethe, then nearly eighty years of age. 
Scott, who drew his earliest inspiration from the 
poetic Muse of Germany, and whose first literary 
labor of any consequence was a translation of Goethe's 
drama of " The Iron-handed Goetz," noted in his 
diary the receipt of this letter from the veteran of 
Weimar, — Goethe, " the Ariosto at once, and al- 
most the Voltaire, of Germany," as he called him ; 
and asked, " Who could have told me, thirty years 
ago, that I should correspond, and be on something 
like an equal footing, with the author of the 
' Goetz ' ? " The letter from Weimar concluded with 
this paragraph : " Can I remember that such a man 
in his j^outh made himself acquainted with my 
writings, and even (unless I have been misinformed) 
introduced them in part to the knowledge of his own 
nation, and yet defer any longer, at my now very ad- 
vanced years, to express my sense of such an honor? 
It becomes me, on the contrary, not to lose the op- 
portunity now offered of praying for a continuance 
of your kindly regard, and telling you how much a 
direct assurance of good will from your own hand 
would gratify my old age." This led to a courteous 
and graceful reply, the receipt of which gave exceed- 
ing pleasure to Goethe. In '' The Life of Napoleon," 
he of Weimar subsequently said, he looked, not to 
find dates sifted and countermarches analyzed, but 
to contemplate what could not but be the broad im- 
pressions made on the mind of Scott by the marvel- 



^T. 56.] THE CANONGATE. 415 

lous revolutions of his own time in their progress. 
Goethe greatly admired the breadth of that historical 
work. 

The first edition of " Napoleon," consisting of 
eight thousand copies (or seventy-two thousand vol- 
umes), was sold for eighteen thousand two hundred 
pounds, — the copyright retained, of course, by Sir 
Walter's trustees.* 

Before the close of 1827, the first series of " The 
Chronicles of the Canongate " (containing " The High- 
land Widow," " The Two Drovers," and " The Sur- 
f eon's Daughter") was published, in two volumes, 
lach of these tales was literally " founded on fact ; " 
but the introduction, or framework, in which they 
were set, was the best portion of the work. Mrs. 
Bethune Baliol was drawn from his old friend Mrs. 
Murray Keith, with some of his own mother's traits 
'' glazing " the portrait. The scenery of Mr. Croft- 
angry's estate was visible at Carmichael, once the 
mansion of the noble family of Hyndford. The 
story of the deserter, on which " The Highland 
Widow " is founded, was derived from Mrs. Keith. 
" The Two Drovers " was an incident within Scott's 
personal knowledge. Mr. Gideon Gray of Middle- 
mas, in the story of " The Surgeon's Daughter," 
was recognized as Dr. Ebenezer Clarkson of Sel- 
kirk. After the work was completed and named, it 
occurred, curiously enough, that Scott was almost 
compelled, by threat of arrest at the suit of one of 
Constable's London money-lenders, to take shelter 
within the sanctuary of the Canongate itself. But 

* The " Napoleon " was republished in this country, in three octavo vol- 
umes, from early sheets, for which three hundred and fifty pounds — a large 
sum at that time (1827) — was paid. The ordinary payment for the sheets 
of a Waverley novel was seventy-five pounds, — twenty-five pounds a vol- 
ume. There Vas the drawback, in those ante-ocean-steamer times, of the 
regular copies arriving before the advance-sheets; and there was the cer- 
tainty of rival editions appearing, often at reduced prices, within forty- 
eight hours. Nous avons changd tout cela. 



416 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1827 

this cloud passed by, as previously mentioned. His 
friend (and formerly successful rival) paid the 
money, content to rank only as an ordinary creditor ; 
and doing this with so much delicacy, that Sir Wal- 
ter had not even a suspicion of this generosity and 
regard on the part of Sir William Forbes, and did 
not hear of it, indeed, until some time after his 
friend's death in 1828. '' Chronicles of the Canon- 
gate " was published by Mr. Cadell. In July, the 
death of Mr. Constable was a great shock to Sir 
Walter. Many friends departed about this time, — 
the Duke of York, William Gifford (original editor 
of " The Quarterly Review "), Sir George Beau- 
mont, and Mr. Canning : to use a sentence I once 
heard from the lips of Robert Southey, '^ they fell 
through the broken arches of the bridge of life." 

On the day that Sir Walter finished '' Napoleon," 
he conceived the idea of writinsc a series of stories 
on the history of Scotland for his little grandson, 
who, in somewhat improved health, was with him 
during part of the summer at Abbotsford. He had 
partly written this work (" Tales of a Grandfather ") 
while finishing his Canongate series, and now pro- 
ceeded with it, together with a new novel, ''The 
Fair Maid of Perth ; " the scene, as the name de- 
notes, is in Scotland ; and the time, the beginning of 
the fifteenth century. He resided during this win- 
ter, and while he continued a Clerk of Session, in 
Shandwich Place, Edinburgh, — very near to which 
dwelt the aged mother of his first love. I have 
already mentioned his sad visits to this poor lady. 
Before the year ended, he received intimation that 
his good friend George IV. had personally com- 
manded Lord Dudley to appoint his younger son, 
Charles Scott, to the first eligible vacancy in the 
Foreign Office. 

Early in December, the first series of " Tales of 



^T. 56.] OPUS MAGNUM. 417 

a Grandfather " was published, its success at the 
time exceeding even that of '' Rob Roy " and " Ivan- 
hoe ; " and its "continued popularity, whether in the 
library, the boudoir, the schoolroom, or the nursery, 
proves the excellence of its design and execution. 
This success, arising from the fact that Scott had 
made history not only readable, but attractive, en- 
couraged Mr. Cadell the publisher to undertake a 
project over which he long had brooded. 

It had been resolved, at this time, to dispose by 
auction (Scottice, "by public roup") of the copyright 
of Scott's novels, from " Waverley " to " Quentin 
Durward " inclusive, and a majority of the shares of 
his poetical works. The friends of author and pub- 
lisher were anxious that these copyrights should be 
secured to both. Constable's creditors exposed them 
for competition; what is called ''the upset price" be- 
ing five thousand pounds. They brought eight thou- 
sand five hundred pounds, — one-half for Sir Walter, 
one-half for Mr. Cadell. The impression from the 
immense stock of Sir Walter's works on hand, in 
editions of various sorts and sizes, was, that these 
copyrights were worn out. Mr. Cadell's idea was 
to publish a uniform edition of the Waverley novels, 
with new prefaces and notes by the author, with 
original illustrations on steel by the first painters and 
engravers, and so arranged that the novel originally 
issued at a guinea and a half should be sold in its 
better form for ten shillings. It was rightly calcu- 
lated that cheapness, elegance, good print, fine paper, 
cloth binding, and superb illustrations, with the au- 
thor's new introductions and copious notes, must 
supersede all ordinary editions. Mr. Cadell admitted 
Sir Walter into the partnership on condition of his 
giving his name, influence, and literary assistance. 
The first two volumes, containing " Waverley," with 
illustrations, at once established the success of the 

27 



418 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1828 

undertaking, which Scott, in his diary and letters, 
usually calls the Opus Magyium. The scheme was 
subsequently extended so as to include the wliole 
of his works ; and in 1849, when Mr. Cadell died, — 
exactly twenty years from its beginning, — it had 
realized a sum estimated at two hundred and fifty thou- 
sand pounds. 

In the two years ending January, 1828, Scott real- 
ized — for I will not say his creditors — the sum of 
forty thousand pounds. The heavy labor of compiling 
history ended, his health improved, he proceeded, in 
good spirits and with his usual industry, to prepare 
the Opus Magnum for the press, and wrote several 
articles for the Reviews. There appeared too, early 
in this year, a volume of '' Sermons by the Author of 
Waverley." 

Some years before, he had written two religious 
discourses for a 3^oung man, George Huntly Gordon, 
who, intended for the Church, said he felt unable 
to write his own probationary sermons. Scott, 
to whom he was a sort of amanuensis for several 
years, kindly offered to write them, and did. Mr. 
Gordon, being incurably deaf, did not venture into 
the pulpit, but kept the sermons. This was in 1824. 
When Scott's troubles came, in 1826, he provided for 
Gordon by getting him a government-office in which 
his infirmity would not be a disqualification. In Lon- 
don, as often occurs, he got into debt, and was enabled 
to get out of it by obtaining Scott's consent to sell 
the sermons for two hundred and fifty pounds to 
Mr. Colburn, a publisher of fashionable novels ! Mr. 
Gordon, who rose in the course of years to a high 
and lucrative situation in the Stationary Office, ought 
not, most persons will think, to have thus taken advan- 
tage of Sir Walter Scott's good nature. 

Like Sir David Lyndesay of the Mount, it might 
be said of Scott that "still his name had charms: " 



^ET- 57-] " FAIR MAID OF PERTH." 419 

for he sold his juvenile drama of " The House of As- 
pen," with two little tales which Ballantjne thought 
too poor for the second " Chronicles of the Canongate," 
for five hundred pounds, to appear in Heath's annual, 
" The Keepsake ; " and refused an offer from a London 
publisher, of one thousand five hundred to two thou- 
sand pounds, to conduct a literary journal. It would 
have occupied too much of his time : he wanted to 
clear his debts, which could be done only by writing 
what he could retain as property. 

" The Fair Maid of Perth " was completed and 
published in the spring of 1828. The character of 
Connochar, the Highland chief, constitutionally timid, 
sustained in the strife by a sense of honor, and finally 
giving way and flying from peril, though disgrace was 
sure to follow, was very curiously worked out. 

Before the tale appeared, its author was in London, 
where he remained six weeks. There he met both 
his sons, — the younger installed in a clerkship in the 
Foreign Office. Sir Walter took a circuitous route, so 
as to visit Charlecote Hall, the seat of Mr. Lucy, a 
descendant of that game-preserving Sir Thomas who 
is said to have driven Shakspeare from Warwickshire 
to London. He had to pass through much of the old 
routine, — the usual lionizing ; but Mr. Lockhart, 
whose guest he was, judiciously warded off a great 
deal of this on the truthful plea of his shattered 
health. Those who saw him at Mr. Lockhart's on 
this occasion were shocked to perceive the great 
alteration which toil, rather than time, had made. 
However, he saw many of his old friends, — Rogers, 
Joanna Baillie, Coleridge, Morritt, Lord Holland, Mr. 
Adolphus, the Duke of Wellington, Moore, and Words- 
worth ; besides dining with the King, the Duchess of 
Kent, and the little princess (now Queen Victoria), 
and sitting to Chantrey for a bust ordered by Sir Rob- 
ert Peel, and for his portrait to Haydon and North- 



420 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1829 

cote. What he probably gained by this visit, inde- 
pendent of the relaxation it gave him, Avas the highly- 
valued permission to dedicate the Opus Magnum 
to the King. On his way home, he took his daughter 
Anne into the Cathedral at Carlisle, that he might 
stand once more on the spot where he married her 
mother ; and in the Castle they were shown, according 
to custom, the very dungeon which Fergus Mac Ivor 
had occupied ! So, in years gone by, happening to 
visit Stirling Castle, which commands a view even 
finer than that from Edinburgh Castle, and not being 
recognized, he was taken to see the very dungeon in 
which Roderick Dhu had been imprisoned, and where, 
as in '^ The Lady of the Lake," he had died ! 

By Christmas, Sir Walter had written several re- 
views, completed the second series of '* The Tales of 
a Grandfather," and executed a large portion of a 
new novel, " Anne of Geierstein." This tale did not 
quite come up to James Ballantyne's standard. One 
objection was, that Scott was describing Switzerland, a 
country which he had never seen ; but it was replied, 
that he was well acquainted with mountain-scenery 
at home, and that he had '' seen pictures and prints 
galore^ In previous works, when he placed the 
scene in France, the Low Countries, and Syria, his 
want of personal knowledge of those countries had 
not prevented their being correctly, and even vividly, 
described. 

At the beginning of 1829, during a visit to Milton 
Lockhart in Clydesdale, Sir Walter Scott first met 
John Greenshields, literally a self-taught sculptor, in 
whom he became highly interested. They met again 
two years after ; and the result was, that sitting statue 
in free-stone (the 'po8e copied from Francis Bacon's 
efQgy at St. Alban's, and Chantrey's noble monument 
of James Watt in Handsworth Church, near Bir- 
mingham) which I saw in Mr. Cadell's premises, No. 4, 



iET. 58.] JOHN MURRAY. 421 

St. Andrew's Square, Edinburgh, in 1840. On the 
pedestal is carved, as on Bacon's, the inscription, 
'' Sic Sedetat." Mr. Greenshields, dying in 1836 at 
tlie age of forty, had 

" The doom 
Heaven gives its favorites, — an early tomb." 

The prospectus of the Opus Magnum, now pub- 
lished, had a remarkable result. Its promise of a new, 
uniform, handsome, and low-priced edition of the 
\yaverley novels, with autobiographical introduction, 
prefaces, and notes, almost entirely stopped the sale 
of the numerous other editions in the market. It had 
been intended to begin with an edition of seven thou- 
sand ; but twelve thousand were issued. Before the 
close of 1829, eight volumes were published, and the 
monthly sale had reached thirty-five thousand. This 
gave assurance of early liberation from all pecuniary 
embarrassment, and of subsequent independence, as 
one-half of the copyright belonged to the author. It 
was now resolved to produce the poems uniform with 
the novels. One-fourth of the copyright of " Mar- 
mion," however, was the property of Mr. IMurray, the 
London publisher, who, when asked what he would 
sell it for, wrote to Sir Walter Scott, that so highly 
did he estimate the honor of having been his pub- 
lisher, that no pecuniary consideration whatever could 
induce him to part with it. " But," he added, '' there 
is a consideration of another kind, which until now I 
was not aware of, which would make it painful to 
me if I were to retain it a moment longer : I mean 
the knowledge of its being required by the autlior, 
into whose hands it was spontaneously resigned in the 
same instant that I read his request." This was a 
liberal act, gracefully performed, worthy of the hon- 
orable profession of publisher, in which Mr. Murray 
had so long been a distinguished member. 



422 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1829 

Sir Walter's visit to Ireland had persuaded him 
that it would be safe policy to concede what were 
called the Catholic claims ; and I remember having 
heard him say, that, if this had been done (as Pitt de- 
sired, though George III. objected) at the Union in 
1800, Ireland would probably have been as prosper- 
ous and contented as Scotland. Early in 1829, hav- 
ing to choose between concession and civil war, 
Wellington and Peel, then at the head of the Gov- 
ernment, startled all classes by announcing that they 
adopted the former. Their course was commended 
by the liberals of all classes. Scott, strong Tory 
though he was, felt bound by his conviction to sup- 
port the Government on this question. He wrote in 
its favor in Ballantyne's newspaper ; proposed a reso- 
lution in its favor at a public meeting in Edinburgh ; 
and, when a petition from that city was presented in 
the Commons, the first signature read by the clerk 
of the House was that of " Walter Scott." There 
was a burst of enthusiasm such as has rarely been 
exhibited in that deliberative assembly. 

'^ Anne of Geierstein " went on but slowly ; for Cadell 
and Ballantyne were not satisfied with the third vol- 
ume. If it had not been put into type as fast as it was 
written, it would probably never have been published. 
It was completed, however, by the end of April ; and 
next morning Sir Walter began another task-work, — 
a history of Scotland, in two volumes, for which he 
was to receive fifteen hundred pounds. It was writ- 
ten for " The Cabinet Cyclopsedia," edited by Dr. 
Dionysius Lardner, an ingenious scientific gentleman, 
who, several years later, wrote an article in '' The 
Edinburgh Review " to prove that steam navigation 
across the Atlantic was impracticable, but had his 
theory refuted, immediately after it was published, 
by the intelligence that the steamers " Sirius " and 
" Great Western," one from Cork, and the other from 



^ET. 58.] DEATH OF PURDIE. 423 

Bristol, had crossed the Atlantic safely and easily, 
one in seventeen, and the other in fifteen days. 

When it was first proposed to write this compen- 
dium of Scottish history. Sir Walter said in a letter 
to Lockhart, ^' I really can't think of any Life that I 
could easily do, excepting Queen Mary's ; and that I 
decidedly would not do, because my opinion, in point 
of fact, is contrary both to the popular feeling and 
my own." 

" Anne of Geierstein," published in May, 1829, was 
received, like " The Fair Maid of Perth," without 
much enthusiasm. The circulating-libraries had to 
purchase it, because it was Scott's ; and these are so 
numerous in " the old country," that a large edition 
is requisite to supply their demand. Not until long 
after w^as the phenomenon witnessed, — now no 
longer wondered at, — of one London librarian taking 
a thousand copies of a work ! 

In the autumn. Sir Walter lost a valued friend, — 
Tom Purdie, his forester, — who had dropped his head 
on his arm as he sat by the table one evening, and 
fell into that " sleep which knows no waking." He 
felt this loss, and wrote to William Laidlaw, who had 
left Kaeside, but was within walking distance of 
Abbotsford, ''Poor fellow! — there is a heart cold 
that loved me well, and, I am sure, thought of my 
interest more than his own. I have seldom been so 
shocked." Laidlaw's comment on this was, " He 
was in very great distress about Tom, and will miss 
him continually, and in many ways that come near- 
est to him. Sir Walter wants us to return to Kae- 
side at Whitsunday. Kindness of heart is positively 
the reigning quality of Sir Walter s character.'^ As 
in " The Antiquary," Monkbarns, in the case of 
young Mucklebackit, the drowned fisherman, " car- 
ried his head to the grave " as his landlord and mas- 
ter ; so did Sir Walter perform the same last office for 



424 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1829 

Tom Purdie, and erected over his remains, close to 
the Abbey of Melrose, a modest monument, with in- 
scription of name, age, and station, " in sorrow for 
the loss of an humble and sincere friend." 

The death of Purdie enabled Sir Walter to perform 
an act very agreeable to him, which brought with it 
its own reward. This was the recall of his faithful 
friend William Laidlaw, who, resuming his residence 
at Kaeside, became general manager of the estate, — 
grieve, land-steward, factor, and factotum, all in one ; 
besides acting as amanuensis some hours in each 
day, — in the forenoon and evening. Laidlaw, natu- 
rally intelligent, had received the ordinary education, 
plain but solid, which Scotland freely gives to her sons 
and daughters in her excellent parish-schools. He 
had read a great deal of miscellaneons literature, and 
had digested and remembered what he read. He 
wrote rapidly and legibly from dictation, and Sir 
Walter had great confidence in his judgment. Even 
as early as 1817, when Laidlaw first went to reside in 
Kaeside, he had been intrusted with one department 
of '* The Edinburgh Annual Register," and employed 
by Mr. Blackwood to compile " The Chronicle " in the 
magazine, then recently begun. For such profitable 
occupation of his time he was indebted to the good 
word of Scott, who had personally known and appre- 
ciated him since their first meeting in the beginning 
of the century. His skill as an amanuensis was first 
exercised during Sir Walter's first severe illness. He 
said that Scott did not like to speak about his novels 
after they were published, but was fond of canvass- 
ing the merits and peculiarities of the characters 
while he was engaged in the composition of the 
story. He was particularly anxious respecting the 
success of Rebecca in '' Ivanhoe." " One morning " 
(Mr. Laidlaw says in a private letter), "as we were 
walking in the woods, after our forenoon's labor, I 



^T. 58.] MODE OF COMPOSITION. 425 

expressed ray admiration of the character ; and, after 
a short pause, he broke out with, ' Well, I think I 
shall make something of my Jewess.' " 

After his return to Kaeside, on Purdie's death, in 
the autumn of 1829, William Laidlaw remained there 
until after Sir Walter's death. He became so neces- 
sary to Scott in these latter days of duty task-work, 
that his coming was eagerly looked for every morn- 
ing after breakfast ; and there is more than one petu- 
lant entry in Scott's diary, noting that " Willie " (as 
he always called him) was a few minutes after time. 
It gave Sir Walter evident delight to see leaf after 
leaf added to the accumulating pile of manuscript. 
In dictation, as Mr. Laidlaw observed, he seemed 
'' not to attend to the expression, but to the continu- 
ity of his tale or dialogue. He had obviously ar- 
ranged his plot and incidents for the day ere he de- 
scended from his bedroom, and the style he left to 
chance." This agrees with his own statement, that 
he allowed his ideas to simmer in his mind for half an 
hour or so, before he arose, every morning ; and that, 
while he was in his plantations thinning the trees 
with his axe, he was thinking how he should carry 
the next chapter. Southey, it will be remembered, 
declared that his finest ideas came to him when he 
was shaving, before breakfast. 

It may be laid down as a general rule, that, when 
an author has decided how he ought to do any thing, 
the mere execution is rarely difficult. As the old 
proverb has it, "A good beginning is half way to a 
fair ending." Latterly, it was a source of gratifica- 
tion to Sir Walter to reflect that his writings had 
been useful as well as entertaining. Laidlaw told 
him one day that his novels ''had the power, be- 
3^ond any other writings, of arousing the better pas- 
sions and finer feelings ; and the moral effect of all 
this, when one looks forward to several generations, 



426 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1830 

— every one acting upon another, — must be im- 
mense." At these words, Laidlaw added, " Sir Wal- 
ter was silent for a minute or two ; but I observed 
his eyes filled with tears." 

More than once Sir Walter said to Laidlaw, that, 
had his father left him an estate of five hundred to 
six hundred pounds a year, he would have spent his 
time in miscellaneous reading, not writing. He may 
have thought so ; but a mind like his surely must have 
relieved its own fulness by an overflow of some kind. 

When Sir Walter was in Edinburgh, Mr. Laidlaw 
was doing three men's work on the Abbotsford estate, 

— planting, planning, thinning the woods, looking 
after the laborers, attending to the farm and the gar- 
den. Before the dark days came, Scott, who had the 
genuine taste and practical eye of a landscape-garden- 
er, often wrote to him about the new scenic effects to 
be produced by improvements. In one of these letters 
(not published by Lockhart) occurs this passage : 
" Get out of your ideas about expense : it is, after 
all, but throwing away the price of the planting. If 
I should buy a picture worth five hundred pounds, 
nobody would wonder much. Now, if I choose to 
lay out one hundred or two hundred pounds to make 
a landscape of my estate hereafter, and add so much 
more to its value, I certainly do not do a more foolish 
thing. . . . We are too apt to consider plantations 
as a subject of the closest economy ; whereas beauty 
and taste have even a marketable value after the ef- 
fects come to be visible." 

Whatever his circumstances, prosperous or other- 
wise. Sir Walter Scott was most considerate for the 
cotters and laborers upon his estate. He contrived 
to make a great deal of work for them in the seasons 
when there is little farm-labor ; and, when the snow 
and frost put a stop to this, still contrived ways of 
keeping them occupied. His ordinary plan, in the win- 



^T. 59.] PARALYSIS. 427 

ter months, was to employ them in draining ; and he 
did not grudge one hundred pounds extra expended 
in this manner. The poor, he wrote to Laidlaw, " are 
the minors of the State, and especially to be looked 
after ; and I believe the best way to prevent discon- 
tent is to keep their minds moderately easy as to their 
own provision." Is it necessary to add, that Scott's 
laborers and tenants, thus cared for, not merely loved, 
but venerated him ? 

Early in 1830, Sir Walter had a third severe para- 
lytic seizure in Edinburgh, where medical assistance, 
instantly accessible, soon relieved him. In the words 
of an article in " The Quarterly Review," January, 
1868, written by the Rev. George R. Gleig, author 
of '' The Subaltern," " Though the outer world heard 
nothing of the incident, and he was able to go about 
as usual, submitting to the most rigid diet, and other- 
wise living by rule, he was never the same man 
again." He covered day by day innumerable pages 
of manuscript, producing almost simultaneously his 
" Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft " for Mur- 
ray's '' Family Library," and a further series of " Tales 
of a Grandfather." But even in the former of these, 
" The Letters on Demonology," evidence of the failing 
powers is perceptible ; and, in the stories from French 
history which make up the latter, both words and 
arrangement are cloudy. He persevered, however, 
and wrote at the same time his " Scottish History " for 
Lardner's " Cyclopaedia," a work certainly not worthy 
of its high parentage. 

The third series of " Tales of a Grandfather " 
was completed, in fact, in December, 1829, and 
brought the Scottish history down to the extinction 
of the house of Stuart, in its direct line, by the death of 
Cardinal York (Henry Benedict Stuart), brother of 
the Young Pretender, as the hero of " Waverley " was 
called, which took place in 1807 at Rome, where he 



428 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1830 

had long lived, mainly supported by a pension of three 
thousand pounds a year allowed him by George III. 
The monument over his remains in St. Peter's was 
erected at the expense of George IV. (then Regent) 
in 1816. The gratitude of this last of the Stuarts 
bequeathed to George IV. " all the crown-jewels, 
some of them of great value, which King James the 
Second had carried along with him in his retreat to 
the Continent in 1688, together with a mass of papers 
tending to throw much light on British history." 
Some of these jewels are now among the Regalia of 
Scotland, open to public view (without a fee, I be- 
lieve), in Edinburgh Castle. When in Rome, a few 
months before his death. Sir Walter mentioned that 
he was walking over the field of Preston-Pans, near 
Edinburgh, in June, 1830, musing on the unexpected 
victory which the Young Chevalier had obtained 
there in September, 1745, when he was suddenly 
startled by the sound of the minute-guns proclaiming 
the death of George IV. He was thereby reminded, 
he said, '' that the whole race of Stuarts had passed 
away, and was now followed to the grave by the first 
of the royal house of Brunswick who had reigned in 
the line of legitimate succession." Surely, as Car- 
dinal York, who claimed to be Henry IX. of England, 
had died in 1807, George III. had been the first 
" legitimate " successor of the Stuarts. To the very 
last. Sir Walter retained his Jacobite predilections. 

" Tales of a Grandfather," containing an admirable 
rSsume of Scottish history in its more picturesque 
and general points, was written for and dedicated to 
John Hugh Lockhart, Sir Walter's eldest grandson ; 
and, as noticed in the preface, was at first '' written 
down " to the comprehension of a very youthful read- 
er (the poor boy died on the last day of 1831, 
before he had completed his eleventh year). But he 
soon found that a style considerably more elevated 



JET. 59.] SCOTTISH HISTORY. 429 

was more interesting to the lad ; and confessed that 
" there is no harm, but, on the contrary, there is bene- 
fit, in presenting a cliild with ideas somewhat beyond 
his easy and immediate comprehension. The diffi- 
culties thus offered, if not too great or too frequent, 
stimulate curiosity, and encourage exertion." 

In March, 1830, a few weeks after the paralytic seiz- 
ure above mentioned. Sir Walter commenced writing a 
fourth series of " The Tales of a Grandfather," being 
stories taken from the history of France : at the same 
time, he was composing the volume on " Demonology 
and Witchcraft." The annals of France were brought 
down to A.D. 1413, when Charles VI. had reigned 
thirty-four years, and Henry V. of England had just 
ascended the throne. The intention was to continue 
them to the close of the French Empire in 1815 ; but 
this purpose was never carried out. The dedication 
to his eldest grandson by name, as " a young person 
who wears masculine garments and will soon be nine 
years old," is dated July, 1830 ; and the work was 
published that autumn. 

The first volume of " The History of Scotland," 
for Lardner's '' Cyclopsedia," was written and pub- 
lished towards the close of 1829. The second, clos- 
ing in 1603 with the accession of James VI. to the 
British crown, appeared in May, 1830. Mr. Lock- 
hart confessed that these historical works " can 
hardly be submitted to a strict ordeal of criticism : 
there is in both a cloudiness both of words and ar- 
rangement." It can scarcely be true, however, what 
Dr. Lardner told Thomas Moore when talldng of Sir 
Walter's rapid and careless manner of writing, that, 
in sending him the manuscript of his " History of 
Scotland," he begged he would be so kind as to 
'* throw in a few dates and authorities." It cannot 
be true ; for Scott was so familiar with the subject, that 
he could almost have written a history of Scotland 



430 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1830. 

from mere recollection. There is something ludicrous, 
from its utter absurdity, in Sir Walter Scott relying 
on Dr. Lardner for "dates and authorities" on a sub- 
ject which he (Scott) certainly knew more intimately 
than any other man of that time. 

*' The Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft," 
written in 1830, was published in December of that 
year. Sir Walter appears to have lost his patience 
over it ; probably feeling that the subject was one to 
which he could have done justice in former days, 
when health and hope were strong. In the opening 
sentence, he spoke of it as " the history of a dark 
chapter in human nature ; " the book itself being the 
chapter, and not a history. In his diary it is more 
than once mentioned as " that infernal Demonology." 
Nevertheless, it is a very entertaining volume, con- 
taining many anecdotes and stories, told in the racy 
old manner. 




CHAPTER XXVI. 

Ketirement from the Court of Session. — Presentation of Library and Mu- 
seum—Maltreated at Jedburgh. — *' Count Robert of Paris" and "Castle 
Dangerous." — Capt. Burns at Abbotsford. — Voyage to Italy. — Graham's 
Island. — Malta. — Naples. — Rome. — Last Tales. — Return to Abbots- 
ford. — Death. — FuneraL — Autopsy. 

1830 — 1832. 

THE year 1830 witnessed great mental labor, in 
spite of more than one severe attack of ill- 
ness. His father and elder brother having died of 
paralysis, he had ample cause for alarm ; and, indeed, 
had repeatedly declared, long before his health failed, 
that he had no fear of death, but was afraid of out- 
living his faculties ; which, indeed, had been the case 
with his father, who, for two years before he died, had 
been entirely unconscious. He often alluded to 
Swift's simile of a tree apparently flourishing, but 
with its top withered ; and would sadly repeat John- 
son's forcible lines : — 

" From Marlborough's eyes the tears of dotage flow, 
And Swift expires a driveller and a show." 

It was resolved by the Wellington government, in 
the summer of 1830, that two out of the six princi- 
pal Clerks of Session in Scotland should be reduced ; 
and, apparently with his own consent. Sir Walter 
Scott was superannuated upon an allowance of eight 
hundred, instead of one thousand three hundred 
pounds per annum. He believed that he could 

431 



432 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1830 

save considerable by giving up town residence, and 
gain health and time. Intimation was made by the 
Home Secretary (his old friend Peel) that ministers 
were ready to grant him a pension covering the large 
reduction in his income. He scrupled to accept it, but 
submitted the subject to his creditors, who, with the 
kindness they had exercised throughout, enjoined 
him not on their account to do injury to his own feel- 
ings in a matter so delicate. Thus authorized, he 
respectfully declined the proffered pension. In July, 
1830, he attended the court for the last time. He 
was a little alarmed, however, at the idea of chan- 
ging the habits of a long life all of a sudden and for- 
ever (he had been Clerk for twenty-four years) ; and 
did not like to feel, with Othello, that his occupation 
was gone. In June he heard of the death of George 
IV., who, almost immediately before, had suggested 
that he should be placed at the head of a commis- 
sion to examine the Stuart Papers which had been 
bequeathed to George HI. by Cardinal York. An 
offer to elevate Sir Walter to the position of privy 
councillor, made at the same time, was declined, on 
the plea that diminished fortune and failing health 
must prevent his accepting such a high distinction. 

During that summer, during which the Revolution 
of July, 1830, occurred in Paris, his daughter Mrs. 
Lockhart, with her husband and children, were again 
at Chiefswood. Sir Walter passed much of his time 
with them, or rather with their children, being much 
out of doors for the advantage of their health, and to 
the manifest improvement of his own. He visited 
around a little also, and was much oppressed by visit- 
ors ; the idea having become general, that he had 
worked through his difficulties. To say nothing of 
the expense, which he could ill bear, there were the 
occupation of his time, and the fatigue, mental and bod- 
ily, from the task of entertaining them. Some of his 



^T. 59.] CHARLES THE TENTH. 433 

old friends came ; but with them it was different. 
There was assurance from Mr. Cadell, that, in Octo- 
ber, the debt would be reduced one-half. Sixty 
thousand pounds produced in little more than four 
years ! 

This assurance, it was hoped, would induce him to 
limit his work to the composition of prefaces and 
notes for the new edition of the Waverle}?" novels, 
— ^the Opus Magnum, as he generally called it, — 
the large sale of which continued, despite the strong 
political excitement of the time. But he had resolved 
to return to historical romance, and commenced 
" Count Robert of Paris," which, with " Castle Dan- 
gerous," was published in November, 1831, after its 
author had sailed for Italy. 

Following the accession of a new monarch, there 
was a general election, as usual. Sir Walter, resid- 
ing in the county of Roxburgh, went to Jedburgh, 
where the eldest son of his friend, Mr. Scott of Har- 
den, was re-elected without opposition. His nomina- 
tion was seconded by Sir Walter ; and Mr. Adolphus, 
who was with him, reported, that, at the dinner 
which followed, he made a charactistic speech, rich 
in humor and feeling. He was not, however, what 
is called " eloquent ; " but, when his feelings were 
touched, spoke with energy and expression. 

The French Revolution having exiled Charles X., 
who once more found an asylum in Holyrood House, 
Sir Walter Scott wrote an appeal to the inhabitants 
of Edinburgh, entreating them, whatever their polit- 
ical sentiments, to respect the " gray, discrowned 
head " of an unfortunate sovereign ; and the effect of 
this admirable and affecting address was to secure 
more than tolerance for the French exiles from the 
people of the Scottish capital. 

Ere winter set in, the Lockharts had returned to 
London ; and except his daughter Anne, his friend 

28 



434 SIR WALTER SCOTT. Il831 

William Laidlaw, who was always near at hand, and 
the necessary (many of them old) domestics, Sir Wal- 
ter was very much alone at Abbotsford. One of his 
servants, John Nicolson, who had been in the house- 
hold since childhood, and was now at its head, was 
privately instructed by Mr. Clarkson, the surgeon 
of the district, in the use of the lancet : in the case 
of an apoplectic attack, he might thus give immediate 
relief, without the delay of sending for the doctor, 
whose residence was three miles distant, and who 
might be at the other end of the parish when re- 
quired. 

Well or ill, the new romance went on. Mr. Laid- 
law, then writing to a friend, said, " What he dic- 
tates of ' Robert of Paris ' is, much of it, as good as 
any thing he ever wrote. He does not go on so fast ; 
but I do not see that he is much more apt to make 
blunders — that is, to let his imagination get ahead 
of his speech — than when he wrote ' Ivanhoe.' " Mr. 
Ballantyne and Mr. Cadell, who read the manuscript 
more critically, did not like it, and felt compelled to 
say so to Sir Walter, but in the gentlest manner : at 
the same time, except that the writing was cramped 
and straggling (his hand being rendered almost use- 
less by chilblains), his letters to them were full of 
business tact, shrewdness, and the old pleasantry. 
At the close of the year, the Wellington administra- 
tion having quitted office, their successors announced 
parliamentary reform on a large scale as the prin- 
cipal item in their programme. Laidlaw, always a 
Whig, rejoiced in this new promise. Ballantyne be- 
gan to lean that way. Cadell was also a reformer. 
Sir Walter, an old Tory, adhered with great tenacity 
to the anti-reform party, which formed a great minor- 
ity throughout the British islands. He had another 
apoplectic seizure in November ; after which he first 
conceived the idea of leaving the country, and sojourn- 



^ET. 60.] THE creditors' GIFT. 435 

ing in the south of Europe for a year or two. AYhen 
urged to discontinue writing, he emphatically an- 
swered, " I foresee distinctly, that, if I were idle, I 
should go mad. In comparison with this, death is no 
risk to shrink from." 

Just before Christmas, 1830, there was a meeting 
of the creditors, at which a farther dividend on the 
Ballantyne estate, of three shillings on the pound, 
was declared ; thus reducing the debt from a hundred 
and twenty thousand to about fifty-four thousand 
pounds. With renewed thanks to their debtor, the 
creditors unanimously passed this resolution : " That 
Sir Walter Scott be requested to accept of his furni- 
ture, plate, linens, paintings, library, and curiosities 
of every description, as the best means the creditors 
have of expressing their very high sense of his most 
honorable conduct, and in grateful acknowledgment 
for the unparalleled and most successful exertions he 
has made, and continues to make, for them." This 
liberal act was most grateful to Sir Walter's feelings. 
He considered the library and museum, thus secured 
to him, as worth ten thousand pounds ; which would 
enable him to make some provision for his younger 
children. Mr. John Gibson (in his " Reminiscences ") 
estimated it at twelve thousand pounds, — equal to 
a dividend of two shillings per pound on a hundred 
and twenty thousand pounds. 

It is to be regretted that he who alone could have 
done it properly did not compile a catalogue raisonnS 
of the Abbotsford museum and library. It had been 
begun in the autumn of 1830, to be published in the 
usual novel shape, with the title of " Reliquice Trot- 
tosienses^ or the Gabions of Jonathan Oldbuck ; " 
but, after dictating a portion of this for a few morn- 
ings to William Laidlaw, it was discontinued, in order 
that " Count Robert " should be commenced. With 
every separate article in the museum, and with at 



436 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [183I 

least two out of every three books in the library, 
there was some anecdote or association, known only 
to himself. This is one of the many books that schol- 
arly readers must lament was never written, and which 
now can never be produced. 

To ease his mind during the political agitation, Sir 
Walter dictated a fourth " Letter of Malachi Mala- 
growther," in which the principle of parliamentary 
reform was vehemently condemned, and a raising of 
public revenue by means of an income-tax suggested ; 
which, indeed, was the plan resorted to, in 1842, to 
get rid of a great public financial deficiency. This 
manifesto was never printed ; Mr. Cadell's opinion 
being, that its publication would array a hundred ac- 
tive pens against any new work Sir Walter might 
produce, and might even interrupt the splendid suc- 
cess of the Opus Magnum. Sir Walter submitted, 
put the manuscript into the fire, and was very much 
annoyed. He went on with "Count Robert" (even 
in Edinburgh, where he made his will in February, 
1831), met a few old friends, and, on his return to 
Abbotsford, resumed his labors, — writing with his 
own hand, or dictating. 

A self-imposed and thankless labor, at this time, 
was a manifesto against the reform bill, which the 
freeholders of Ettrick, in whose name it was written, 
did not adopt, preferring a shorter one from a country 
gentleman who had often represented them in Parlia- 
ment. Mr. Laidlaw's brief account of this is : '' The 
worst business was that accursed nonsensical petition 
in the name of the magistrates, justices of the peace, 
freeholders of the extensive, influential, and populous 
county of Selkirk. We were more than three days 
at it. At the beginning of the third day, he walked 
backwards and forwards, enunciating the half-sen- 
tences with a deep and awful voice, his eyebrows 
seemingly more shaggy than ever, and his eyes more 



iET. 60.] ANTI-REFORM. 437 

fierce and glaring, — altogether like the royal beast 
in his cage. It suddenly came over me, as politics 
was always Sir Walter's weak point, that he was 
crazy, and that I should have to come down to Ab- 
botsford and write on and away at the petition until 
the crack of doom." After that, he gave up the 
thankless job of writing political addresses on the 
losing side. It would have been well if he had also 
ceased to appear personally as a partisan. 

On the 21st of March, 1831, there was a meeting 
of the freeholders of Roxburghshire to pass resolu- 
tions against the reform bill. Despite his resolu- 
tion recorded in his diary, and of a promise to his 
daughter Anne, he allowed himself to be persuaded 
by the two Scotts he had most regard for — young 
Buccleugh and Scott of Harden — to attend and 
make a strong anti-reform speech, which (for he 
spoke low, and his utterance had been much affected 
by his recent attacks) either the multitude did not 
hear, or did not like. He was interrupted by violent 
hissing and hooting, and calmly stood until silence 
was obtained. He spoke another sentence or two ; 
when (Mr. Lockhart reports) '' he was again stopped 
by a confused Babel of contemptuous sounds, which 
seemed likely to render further attempts ineffectual. 
He, abruptly and unheard, proposed his resolution, 
and then, turning to the riotous artisans, exclaimed, 
' I regard your gabble no more than the geese on the 
green ! ' His countenance glowed with indignation 
as he resumed his seat on the bench. But when, a 
few moments afterwards, the business being over, he 
arose to Avithdraw, every trace of passion was gone. 
He turned round at the door, and bowed to the as- 
sembly. Two or three, not more, renewed their hiss- 
ing. He bowed again, and took leave in the words 
of the doomed gladiator, which I hope none who 
had joined in these insults understood : 'Moriturus vos 
saluto,'* " 



438 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1831 

Two months after this, Sir Walter insisted on going 
to the county election at Jedburgh (Scottice, '' Jed- 
dart ") ; and his carriage was pelted with stones, one 
or two of which fell into it, but none struck him. 
The record in his diary is : " May 18. — Went to 
Jedburgh, greatly against the wishes of my daugh- 
ters. The mob were exceedingly vociferous and bru- 
tal, as they usually are now-a-days. The population 
gathered in formidable numbers, — a thousand from 
Hawick also, — sad blackguards ! The day passed 
with much clamor, and no mischief. Henry Scott was 
re-elected, — for the last time, I suppose. Troja fuit, 
I left the borough in the midst of abuse, and the gen- 
tle hint of '-Burke Sir Walter I ' Much obhged to the 
brave lads of Jeddart ! " 

This maltreatment sank deeply into his mind ; for 
on his death-bed he was heard to repeat, '' Burke Sir 
Walter!" 

A similar scene was anticipated at the Selkirk elec- 
tion, where Sir Walter had to preside as Sheriff. All 
went off peaceably. He was loved as well as known 
in his county ; so much so, that when, about that 
time, the authorities were swearing in special consta- 
bles at Melrose, the men said, " We will not fight 
against reform ; but, if an}^ one meddles with Sir Wal- 
ter Scott, we will fight for Am." 

*' Castle Dangerous," intended to accompany 
" Count Robert " in the fourth and final series of 
"Tales of My Landlord," was begun on July 2, 1831, 
— a story of the Douglas blood, with the scene in Lan- 
arkshire. He proceeded to examine the locality ; but, 
seized with alarm on hearing that a Border friend 
whom he had met at Milton-Lockhart had been smit- 
ten with paralysis on his return home over-night, he 
returned to Abbotsford without delay, accepting the 
warning. He concluded both stories, and resolved 
to write no more ; working only at his prefaces and 



-^•6o.] THE SON OF BURNS. 439 

notes, and occasionally at the " Reliquiae of Jonathan 
Oldbuck," — the, catalogue of his books, manuscripts, 
antiquities, and curiosities. 

His desire, in accordance with the advice of his 
medical friends, to spend the winter amid new scenes, 
in a more genial climate, and with complete avoidance 
of literary labor, became known to Capt. Basil Hall, 
the well-known author, who communicated it to Sir 
James Graham (himself a Border-man, on the English 
side), then First Lord of the Admiralty, suggesting 
that a frigate belonging to the royal navy should be 
placed at his disposal for the voyage to the Mediterra- 
nean. Although Sir James was a member of that 
reform ministry whose policy Sir Walter Scott had so 
vehemently opposed, he laid the suggestion before 
the King, kind-hearted William IV., with a favorable 
recommendation, and received instruction to assure 
Sir Walter Scott, that, whenever he found it conve- 
nient, a frigate should be prepared for his reception 
and conveyance. This high compliment, as well as the 
gracious and kind manner in which it was conveyed, 
very sensibly affected " the Ariosto of the North." 

With the Lockharts again at Cliiefswood, and the 
usual circle of near and dear friends in whose society 
he so much delighted, Sir Walter now maintained daily 
and pleasant intercourse. There were a few visitors 
from the South, among whom were Mr. Adolphus, who, 
ten years before, had lifted the veil from '' the Great 
Unknown;" Mr. James, whose novel of "Richelieu" 
had appeared not long before, with high commenda- 
tion from Sir Walter ; and Turner the painter. Then, 
in September, when Capt. James Glencairn Burns, 
son of the poet, being home on fui-lough from India, 
came to spend a day with Scott, a large party of the 
neighboring gentry was invited to meet him in Abbots- 
ford, — on that occasion set forth to the utmost advan- 
tage ; and Sir Walter was able to preside, assisted by 



440 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1831 

his stalwart eldest son, who had been allowed leave 
of absence from his regiment that he might accom- 
pany Sir Walter to Italy. Never since have the halls 
of Abbotsford been filled with such a gay and brilliant 
company. Two or three days after, Wordsworth 
and his daughter came to say '' Good-by." What he 
thought is expressed in the poem entitled "Yarrow 
Revisited," and in a farewell sonnet of great beauty. 

Sir Walter Scott reached London on the 28th of 
September, 1831, while the reform struggle was at its 
height. He remained as quiet as possible at Mr. 
Lockhart's house, Sussex Place, Regent's Park. 
Those v/ho saw him noticed that he was weaker than 
before, that his articulation had become thick, that 
his lameness had manifestly increased (in fact, he 
moved with great pain in the whole limb), but that 
his eye had not lost any of its brightness. He made 
some calls on old friends ; partook of a few quiet din- 
ners, chiefly at Lockhart's ; and went out a few times 
in the evening to small parties. He worked a little 
in the mornings on the notes to the Opus Magnum. 
At the request of Dr. Robert Fergusson, — a brother 
of Sir Adam at Huntly Burn, who, taking great in- 
terest in him, constantly saw him, and carefully ob- 
served all the minutiae of his ailments, — he consented 
to receive a visit from Sir Henry Halford and Dr. (now 
Sir Henry) Holland, then the most eminent physicians 
in London. Their opinion was, there was inherent 
disease in the brain ; but that, if he wholly suspended 
mental labor for a considerable time, the malady might 
be arrested. This decision greatly relieved his mind : 
he was thankful : he promised to adhere to their in- 
structions as to diet and repose ; and he confessed 
that " he had feared insanity, and feared them." 

Among the persons he met in these last days were 
Lord Mahon, Mr. Croker, Sir John Malcolm, Lord Sid- 
mouth, Lady Davy, Lord Montagu, Samuel Rogers, Sir 



^T. 60.] VOYAGE TO ITALY. 441 

James Mackintosh, Lord Melville, Sir David Wilkie, 
Thomas Moore, and Washington Irving. Among the 
last things which he did, before leaving England, 
was to write an inscription for the monument which 
he had erected over Helen Walker, the original of 
Jeanie Deans, and to complete the preface for the 
forthcoming " Last Tales of My Landlord." In this 
he stated, surely with pardonable self-complacency, 
that he " is now on the eve of visiting foreign parts ; 
a ship-of-war is commissioned by its royal master to 
carry the author of ' Waverley ' to climates in which 
he may possibly obtain such a restoration of health 
as may serve him to spin his thread to an end in his 
own country : " and he expressed a hope, " that the 
powers of his mind, such as they are, may not have 
a different date from those of his body; and that he 
may again meet his patronizing friends, if not exactly 
in his old fashion of hterature, at least in some branch 
which may not call forth the remark, that 

* Superfluous lags the veteran on the stage.' " 

At Portsmouth, where he was to embark on " The 
Barham," — one of the finest frigates in the British 
navy, commanded by Capt. (afterwards Sir Hugh) 
Pigot, — he was delayed a week, during which he 
excited the greatest interest in that lively port. All 
the public functionaries, government and civic, paid 
him the utmost attention. The First Lord and the 
Secretary of the Admiralty (Sir James Graham and 
Sir John Barrow) came from London expressly to as- 
certain, that, in the royal ship-of-war, nothing that 
could contribute to his comfort or care had been 
neglected. On the 29th of October, 1831, the unfavor- 
able wind having changed, " The Barham" went to 
sea. The voyage was extremely pleasant. In the 
Mediterranean they came up to Graham's Island, sud- 



442 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1831 

denly created four months before by a marine 
volcano, and rapidly disappearing. He landed upon 
it, though it crumbled away under his tread. He 
sent a sketch of the island, executed by the captain's 
clerk, with some speculations on its formation, to his 
friend Mr. James Skene at Edinburgh, to be com- 
municated to the Royal Society there, or to their 
own Club. On arrival at Malta, " The Barbara " was 
placed in quarantine (it was during the first cholera 
season) ; and Sir Walter's party was detained for 
some days in Fort Manuel, an old Spanish palace. 

At Malta he met Mr. John Hookham Frere and 
Sir John Stoddart, both high officials there and old 
friends, with Dr. John Davy (Sir Humphry's 
brother) at the head of the medical staff. It ap- 
pears from memoranda made at the time by Mrs. 
Davy, an Edinburgh lady, that he saw every thing 
worth seeing in the island, and almost every person. 
He appeared to pay little attention to what he ate 
or drank, and was sometimes a little obstinate when 
his daughter attempted to regulate his diet. The 
consequence was, he had a slight paralytic attack. 
He paid a long visit to St. John's Church, the beau- 
tiful temple and burying-place of the Knights ; said 
of Valetta, '' This town is really quite like a dream," 
and, as he left it, said, " It will be hard if I can- 
not make something of this." At all events, he tried ; 
for, soon after he arrived at Naples, he began, and 
nearly finished, a new romance, " The Siege of Malta," 
and a shorter tale, entitled " Bizzarro," the hero of 
wdiich is a brigand-captain. These are unpubhshed. 

When "The Barham" arrived at Naples, on Dec. 
17, the King ordered it to be relieved from the 
quarantine restriction. Charles Scott was an attache 
to the British embassy at Naples : so that Sir Walter 
now had his two sons and Miss Scott with him. 
The higher English residents or visitors showed him 



^^' 60.] AT ROME. 443 

all respect and kindness, and the foreign courtesies 
similaii}^ extended to him were many and gratifying. 
When Sir Walter appeared at court, he wore the 
uniform of a brigadier-general in the ancient Body 
Guard of Scotland (a gay dress of light green, 
with gold embroidery), because the loose trousers 
enabled him to cover his lame limb, with metallic 
machinery now attached to it, which it would have 
been impossible to put into a court-dress. 

With Sir William Gell, an acquaintance of former 
years, who also was very lame, he visited all the notable 
places in and near Naples, — the Lago d'Agnano ; 
Pozzuoli ; Cumoe ; the Roman villa on the extremity of 
the peninsula of Posilipo ; Pompeii, " the City of the 
Dead," as he kept repeating ; Poeustum ; the Monas- 
tery of La Cava ; and the Lake of Avernus. All his 
letters from Naples to relatives and friends at home 
conveyed his idea that he already was out of debt. 
All this time too, from fatigue in sight-seeing, — he 
drove fifty-four miles on one day, — and want of at- 
tention to his diet, his health did not improve. Late 
in March, he heard of the death of Goethe, twenty- 
two years his senior, which greatly moved him : and 
his course was homeward now, by way of Rome ; his 
son Charles obtaining leave to accompany him, the 
Major being compelled to rejoin his regiment. Miss 
Scott believed that his stay at Rome, which was brief, 
was the result of his desire that her natural curiosity 
should be gratified. 

In Rome, where he was so fortunate as to find an 
admirable cicerone in Mr. Edward Cheney, a young 
countryman of his own, well acquainted with some 
of his friends and connections at home, he limited 
his own curiosity to seeing places more memorable in 
modern than in classical history. He saw the liouse 
where Benvenuto Cellini says that he slew the Con- 
stable de Bourbon with a bullet fired from the Castle 



444 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1832 

of St. Angelo ; lie went into St. Peter's to behold 
the tomb of Cardinal of York, last of the Stuarts ; he 
spent a day in the Castle of Bracciano ; he visited the 
Villa Muti at Frescati, once the residence of the Car- 
dinal of York, and then occupied by Mr. Cheney ; he 
saw the house of Rienzi, the tribune ; he examined 
Caesar Borgia's sword ; but did not enter the Vatican, 
because his bodily infirmity would prevent his walk- 
ing through its numberless galleries, halls, and rooms. 

Sir Walter's stay in Rome was for little more than 
three weeks. He left it on May 11, and proceeded 
to England as rapidly as his failing strength permit- 
ted. A hasty glance at the Falls of Terni ; a look 
into the Church of Santa Croce at Florence. He was 
three days in Venice, but only cared to see the 
Bridge of Sighs, and scramble down into the ad- 
joining dungeons (the Pozzi). On, on, through the 
Tyrol, Bavaria, Wlirtemberg, Heidelberg, Frankfort, 
and Mayence ; down the Rhine (with another serious 
attack, relieved by the use of Nicholson's lancet) ; 
and at last, after sometimes travelling seventeen 
hours a day, embarkation at Rotterdam, and arrival 
in London on the evening of June 13, 1832. 

He had travelled so rajoidly, that Mrs. Lockhart 
had received no notice to expect him (this was sev- 
eral years before Morse had invented and applied 
the electric telegraph to " annihilate both time and 
space ") ; and he was taken to St. James's Hotel, 
Jermyn Street, near the Haymarket. He recognized 
his daughter, son-in-law, and the three friendly doc- 
tors, — Hal ford, Holland, and Fergusson, — but, after 
this, was in possession of his faculties only by fits and 
starts, and that was all. Dr. Fergusson was scarcely 
ever absent from his pillow ; and, during the next 
three weeks, the other two visited him daily. His 
eldest son was soon by his bed-side. He recognized 
for a moment Mrs. Thomas Scott (his sister-in-law), 



^ET. 6l.] RETURN HOME. 445 

Mr. Cadell, and his old friend Mr. Richardson, a 
Scotch lawyer, long settled in London. 

So matters continued for some weeks. There was 
no lack of sympathy in London. High and low, rich 
and poor, from the royal family to the hackney-coach- 
man flying in the streets, from the noble to the me- 
chanic, — all classes of persons were earnest in their in- 
quiries about him. There was a prevailing idea, from 
a newspaper paragraph, that, in addition to his bodily 
prostration, the means of defraying the expenses of 
his detention, with a numerous suite, in a London 
hotel, were very insufficient ; and it was communi- 
cated to his family on the part of the Government, 
that, if this were so. Sir Walter's family had only 
to say what sum would relieve him from embarrass- 
ment, and it would immediately be given out of the 
treasury. The reply was a grateful acknowledgment 
of such thoughtful liberality, with an assurance that 
Sir Walter was not so circumstanced as to render its 
acceptance necessary. 

The stupor which oppressed him was easily dissi- 
pated, for the moment, when he was spoken to. All 
through this helplessness, he generally appeared to 
have retained some consciousness. It was evident 
that his earnest desire was to return to Abbotsford. 
He continued in this condition during his voyage 
from London to Leith, and throughout the brief in- 
terval of his rest in Edinburgh. He was accompanied 
by his two daughters, Mr. Lockhart, Mr. Cadell, Dr. 
Thomas Watson, and the faithful and devoted attend- 
ant, Nicolson. 

Early on the morning of July 11 he was placed 
in his carriage, and the journey to Abbotsford began. 
For a time, he was torpid : but descending the Vale 
of Gala, familiar and beloved scener}^, he recognized 
various places by name ; and when, turning him- 
self on the couch, his eye caught at length his own 



446 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1832 

towers, at the distance of a mile, he sprang up with 
a cry of delight. It required all the strength of Lock- 
hart, Dr. Watson, and Nicolson, to keep him in the 
carriage. William Laidlaw had prepared every thing 
at Abbotsford for the reception of his friend, its mas- 
ter. Upon him lay the responsibility of this ; because, 
before Sir Walter quitted Abbotsford, he had given 
Laidlaw a mandate or letter of authority to represent 
him as a land-owner at county-meetings, and a full 
and particular paper of directions as to keeping the 
house, the books, and the garden in order."* As 
Mr. Laidlaw's memoranda are more in detail, on the 
interesting point of Sir Walter's return to Abbotsford, 
than Mr. Lockhart's, I shall preferentially use them 
here. Mr. Laidlaw wrote, " I was at the door ^v^hen 
he (Sir Walter), Mr. and Mrs. Lockhart, and Miss 
Scott, arrived. They said he would not know me. 
He was in a sort of long carriage, that opened at 
the back. He had an uncommon stupid look, staring 
straight before him ; and assuredly he did not know 
where he was. It was very dismal. I began to feel 
myself agitated in spite of all my resolution. Lock- 
hart ordered away the ladies ; and two servants, in 
perfect silence, lifted him out, and carried him into 
the dining-room. I followed, of course. They had 
placed him in a low arm-chair, where he reclined. 
Mrs. L. made a sign for me to step forward to see 
if he would recognize me. She said, ' Mr. Laidlaw, 
papa.' He raised his eyes a little ; and, when he 
caught mine, he started, and exclaimed, ^ Good God, 
Mr. Laidlaw ! I have thought of you a thousand 
times ! ' and he held out his hand. They were all 
very much surprised ; and, it being quite unexpected, 

* Two items of these instructions are characteristic: " The dogs to be 
taken care of; especially to shut them up separately when there is any thing 
to quarrel about. . . . When Mr. Laidlaw thinks it will be well taken, to 
consult Mr. Nicol Milne ; and not to stop young Mr. Nicol when shooting on 
our side of the hedge." 



^'ET- 6i.] NEARING THE END. 447 

I was much affected. He was put to bed. I had 
gone into one of the empty rooms ; and, some little 
time after, Nicolson came to tell me that Sir Walter 
wished to see me. He spoke a little confusedl}^, 
but inquired if the people were suffering any hard- 
ship, if they were satisfied, &c." 

Mr. Laidlaw has omitted to mention, what Mr. 
Lockhart observed, that the dogs, with that fine in- 
stinct noted by the Prince of Poets when he made 
Ulysses recognized by his faithful dog Argus, assem- 
bled about his chair, fawning upon him, and licking 
his hands ; and he alternately sobbed and smiled over 
them until sleep oppressed him. 

It was a sound sleep, out of which he awoke next 
morning perfectly conscious and collected. He 
wished to go into his garden ; and was drawn in a 
Bath chair for some time over the turf before his 
door, and among the rosebeds of his garden, then in 
bloom. After this he was wheeled through the 
principal rooms of Abbotsford hall and library for 
an hour ; frequently saying, " I have seen much, but 
nothing like my ain house : give me one turn more." 
Next day he was even better, and asked Lockhart to 
read to him. " Out of what book ? " He answered, 
"Need you ask? there is but one." He listened to 
the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of St. John, and 
expressed his delight at having followed the reader 
distinctly. The third day, part of Crabbe's poem of 
" The Borough " was read to him ; but he listened 
to it as if it were a new poem. Sunday arrived, and he 
heard the church-service read; asking, at the close, 
why the prayers on the Visitation of the Sick were 
omitted. These were then read. So went on a few 
days, until he chafed at his own " sad idleness," and 
desired to have his desk opened that he might write. 
Refusal was vain. He was moved into his study : a 
pen was placed in his hand, and he desired to be left 



448 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1832 

to himself for a little. His hand had lost the power 
of holding the pen, which dropped on the paper. 
" He sank back on the pillows," Mr. Lockhart says, 
" silent tears rolling down his cheeks ; but, composing 
himself by and by, motioned me to wheel him out of 
doors again. Laidlaw met us at the porch, and took 
his turn of the chair. Sir Walter, after a little while, 
again dropped into slumber. When he was awaking, 
Laidlaw said to me, 'Sir Walter has had a little re- 
pose.' — 'No, Willie,' said he: 'no repose for Sir 
Walter but the grave.' The tears again rushed from 
his eyes. ' Friends,' said he, ' don't let me expose 
myself. Get me to bed.' " 

After that day. Sir Walter never left his room, and 
scarcely his bed, except for an hour or two in the 
middle of the day ; and, after another week, he was 
unable even for this. He recoonized some friends 
from Edinburgh, — one by her voice, — but gradu- 
ally declined, apparently suffering no pain, and seem- 
ing occupied with serious thoughts, and repeating 
verses from Isaiah and the Book of Job, a petition 
from the Litany, a verse from the Scotch metrical 
version of the psalms, or a chant, such as the 
" Stabat Mater " or the " Dies Irae," from the Roman 
ritual. All this time, while his strength slowly 
wasted, he recognized his daughters, son-in-law, and 
William Laidlaw, when they spoke to him. Mr. 
Gibson inquired of Laidlaw, after all was over, 
whether he recollected any thing particular that had 
fallen from Sir Walter on his death-bed. " No/' he 
said. " Only I remember that one fine afternoon, when 
the sun was shining bright into his bedroom, but he 
was very low, I said, ' Cheer up. Sir Walter ; you used 
to say, ' Time and I against any two : ' upon which 
he raised himself on his elbows, pushed back his 
nightcap, and merely said, ' Vain boast ! ' fell back on 
his pillow, and relapsed into silence." 



-«T. 6l.] "LAST SCENE OF ALL." 449 

Meanwhile, as he was incapable of performing his 
duties as Sheriff, -which had been increased by the 
provision for parliamentary elections under the new 
reform bill, and his sheriff substitute, not edu- 
cated for the law, felt himself incompetent to exe- 
cute these novelties, an act of Parliament was 
passed, authorizing the Crown to appoint a new 
Sheriff of Selkirkshire " during the incapacity or 
non-resignation of Sir Walter Scott." Mr. Jeffrey 
introduced this bill into the Commons in language so 
graceful and touching, that Peel and Croker, his po- 
litical opponents, went across the House to thank 
him. 

At last came the great conclusion. Let me tell it 
in Mr. Lockhart's own simple and pathetic words : — 



" As I was dressing, on the morning of Monday, the 1 7th of 
September, Kicolson came into my room, and told me that his 
master had awoke in a state of composure and consciousness, and 
wished to see me immediately. I found him entirely himself, 
though in the last extreme of feebleness. His eye was clear and 
calm, — every trace of the wild fire of delirium extinguished. 
' Lockhart,' he said, ' I may have but a minute to speak to 
you. My dear, be a good man ; be virtuous ; be religious ; be a 
gaod man. Nothing else will give you any comfort when you 
come to lie here.' He paused ; and I said, ' Shall I send for 
Sophia and Anne ? ' — ' No,' said he : ' don't disturb them. Poor 
souls ! I know they were up all night. God bless you all ! ' With 
this he sank into a very tranquil sleep ; and, indeed, he scarcely 
afterwards gave any sign of consciousness, except for an instant on 
the arrival of his sons. They, on learning that the scene was 
about to close, obtained a new leave of absejice from their posts ; 
and both reached Abbotsford on the 19th. C About half-past one, 
P.M., on the 21st of September, Sir Walter Scott breathed his last 
in the presence of all his childreuy It was a beautiful day, — so 
Avarm, that every window was wide open ; and so perfectly still, 
that the sound of all others most delicious to his ear, the gentle 
ripple of the Tweed over its pebbles, was distinctly audible as we 
knelt around the bed, and his eldest son kissed and closed his 
eyes." 

29 



450 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1832 

The funeral took place on the 26th September, and, 
though intended by the family to be strictly private, 
was attended by a very large concourse of friends 
and admirers from all parts of Scotland. By their 
own request, Sir Walter's old domestics and foresters 
bore the coffin to the hearse, and from the hearse to 
the grave in Dryburgh Abbey. The pall was borne 
by his two sons, his son-in-law, and his little grand- 
son ; also by six cousins, and Hugh Scott of Harden, 
chief of his family. Prayers were offered up in the 
house, before the coffin was removed, by two minis- 
ters of the Presbyterian Church. From early man- 
hood. Sir Walter was a member of the Ejoiscopal 
AngHcan Church ; and its fine burial-service was 
read over him at the grave by his friend Archdeacon 
Wilhams. 

Sir Walter's mortal remains were deposited by the 
side of his wife, in the lady-aisle, in the north tran- 
sept of the old Abbey of Dryburgh, on Tweed-side. 
This particular space, which had been the burial-place 
of the Scotts of Haliburton in by-gone days, had 
been presented to Sir Walter by the eccentric Earl of 
Buchan, owner of the ruins. 

There is no solemn monument, neither "storied 
urn or ornamented bust," over Sir Walter's grave 
in Dryburgh. A solid oblong block of Aberdeen 
granite, shaped after a design by Chantrey the sculp- 
tor, covers his remains, and bears the simple inscrip- 
tion ; — 

SIR WALTER SCOTT, BARONET, 
Died September 21st, 1832. 

In that place, too, were subsequently interred John 
Hugh Lockhart, Scott's beloved grandson, who died 
in December, 1831 ; his eldest daughter Sophia, who 
died in May, 1837 ; his eldest son, the second Sir 
Walter, who died at sea, near the Cape of Good 



^^' 6l.] DEATH OF FRIENDS. 451 

Hope, in February, 1847, leaving no child ; Charles 
Scott, the second son, died at Teheran, in Persia, 
whither he had been sent on diplomatic service, in 
October, 1841 ; Miss Anne Scott, the youngest 
daughter, on whom, immediately after her father's 
death, a grant of two hundred pounds per annum 
Avas conferred out of the privy purse of William IV., 
died in London in June, 1833, literally broken down 
by her long and dutiful attendance on her mother 
and father in the lingering sickness of each, and was 
buried in the Harrow Cemetery, near London. 

On the second day after Sir Walter's death, there 
was a surgical examination, which showed, as had 
been anticipated by the London physicians, that there 
was softening of the brain. The cranium was found 
to be thinner than usual ; and the brain was not 
large. 

Lastly, of the leading persons connect-ed with Sir 
Walter Scott's career a few words have to be said. Con- 
stable died in 1827 ; John Ballantyne, in 1821 ; James 
Ballantyne, in 1833 ; Robert Cadell, in 1849 ; Lord 
Byron, in 1824 ; Henry Mackenzie, in 1831 ; Crabbe 
the poet, in 1832 ; Joseph Train, in December, 1852 ; 
the Ettrick Shepherd, in 1835 ; George Thompson, 
''the Dominie," in 1838; Mr. Morritt of Rokeby, 
in 1843 ; William Laidlaw, in 1845 ; Robert Soiithey, 
in 1843 ; William Clerk of Eldin, in 1847 ; Maria 
Edgeworth, in 1849 ; William Wordsworth, in 1850 ; 
Thomas Moore, in 1852 ; Samuel Rogers, in 1855 ; Sir 
Francis Chantrey, in 1841 ; Allan Cunningham, in 
1842; Prof. Wilson, in 1854; William Blackwood, 
publisher, in 1834; and John Gibson Lockhart, in 
1854. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

Scott's Monument. — Statues, Busts, and Portraits. — Personal Peculiarities. — 
Shakspeare and Scott. — Horsemanship. — Singing — Painting. — " Waver- 
ley" Manuscripts. — Dramatic Adaptations. — Character of his Works 

ON the 15th of August, 1840, the foundation-stone 
of a monument to Sir Walter Scott was laid 
within the pleasure-grounds on the open north side 
of Prince's Street, opposite the foot of St. David 
Street, Edinburgh. An inscription upon the stone, 
prepared by Lord Jeffrey, stated that a votive build- 
ing was to be erected over it to the memory of Sir 
Walter Scott, " whose admirable writings were then 
allowed to have given more delight, and suggested 
better feelings to a larger class of readers in every 
rank of society, than those of any other author, with 
the exception of Shakspeare alone ; and which, there- 
fore, were thought likely to be remembered long 
after this act of gratitude, on the part of the first 
generation of his admirers, should be forgotten." 
The monument was completed on A.ug. 15, 1846, by 
the placing within it, in public view, a sitting statue 
of Scott, with pedestal, executed by Mr. Steel, a 
native artist. The entire cost was fifteen thousand 
six hundred and fifty pounds, of which two thousand 
pounds were paid for the statue. Most of this money 
was subscribed in Edinburgh. 

The Scott Monument was designed by George M. 
Kemp, who had begun life as a carpenter, but had so 
enthusiastically and successfully studied the details 
of Roslin Chapel, near Edinburgh, that he became 

452 



MONUMENT IN EDINBURGH. 453 

an architect. His idea was to construct a grand 
Gothic cross, with most, of its details taken from the 
choicest portions of Meh'ose Abbey, piled up into a 
Gothic spire. Something like this, onl}^ on a smaller 
scale, and with yet more delicate carvings, is the 
Martyrs' Memorial at Oxford, a contemporary work. 
Four large basement arches are connected together, 
exactly in the same manner as those beneath the cen- 
tral tower of any cruciform Gothic cathedral. Four 
other large arches spring diagonally from the outer 
side of the piers of these arches, and rest externally 
on isolated buttressed piers, which are surmounted by 
lofty pinnacles. A contracting series of galleries, 
arches, turrets, and pinnacles, soars aloft from the 
summit of the four grand basement arches, stage after 
stage, until it attains a height of over two hundred 
feet from the ground, and terminates in a single finial. 
The capitals, mouldings, niches, parapets, crocket- 
ings, and other carved ornaments, are all in the style 
of decorated Gothic, closely after the pattern of Mel- 
rose. A stair of two hundred and eighty-seven steps 
ascends to a gallery, within a few feet from the sum- 
mit ; and from this is a magnificent bird's-eye view of 
Edinburgh. 

From the ground, easy steps on all the four sides 
converge to a platform beneath the four grand base- 
ment arches ; and there, upon a pedestal in the cen- 
tre, is the sitting statue of Sir Walter Scott, with 
his dog Maida by his side, executed in Carrara mar- 
ble. The likeness is excellent : but the proportions 
and position of this statue relatively to the vault 
around it are thought to be much too small, causing 
the figure, though really large in itself, to look almost 
dwarfish; or rather, perhaps, makes the monument 
appear larger than it is. My own opinion is, that the 
monument is placed in too low a situation ; at the 
same time, it certainly stands near the greatest thor- 
oughfare in Edinburgh. 



454 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

Over the arch, beneath which is the statue, is a 
small square chamber, about fifteen feet in diameter 
and twenty feet high, originally constructed to con- 
tain a museum of articles connected with Scott and 
his writings. One of the Centenary results will be to 
line the walls of this chamber, to the height of thir- 
teen feet, with carved oak. In two recesses will be 
placed bookcases, to contain various collections of 
Scott's writings, together with such Lives of him as 
have been or ma}^ be published. There will also be 
glass cases for the safe exhibition and custody of 
manuscripts and other relics. 

In each front of the monument, above the archivolt 
of the basement, are six small niches, making twen- 
ty-four there ; and there are thirty-two others in the 
piers, abutment-towers, and other prominent posi- 
tions, of the first and second stages ; making fifty-six 
within clear view from the ground. The intention 
was, that in each niche should be placed a sculptured 
impersonation of the principal characters, historical 
and imagined, presented in the writings of Sir 
Walter Scott. As yet, the only statues so placed 
are those of Prince Charles Edward, Meg Merrilies, 
the Lady of the Lake, the Last Minstrel, and George 
Heriot. It is expected that all the other niches will 
soon be occupied. 

Mr. Kemp, who designed Scott's monument, did not 
live to see it completed. On the 6th of March, 1844, 
he fell into a canal basin one dark evening as he was 
walking home, and was drowned. The only personal 
communication he ever had with Sir Walter was in 
this wise : Travelling on foot, one hot day, from 
Peebles to Selkirk, with his carpenter's tools over 
his back, a carriage drove up ; and the gentleman 
who occupied it, seeing that the young mechanic 
looked fatigued, invited him to take a seat with the 
coachman, and conveyed him into Selkirk. After 



POSTHUMOUS MEMORIALS. 455 

this cliaracteristic act of kindness, the two never met 
again. 

In Glasgow, ere the close of 1832, steps were taken 
to honor the author of " Rob Roy ; " and in St. George's 
Square, where there are also statues of James Watt 
and Sir John Moore, is a lofty pillar, sustaining a 
statue of Sir Walter Scott. 

In front of the Court House in Selkirk, where Sir 
Walter had his office as sheriff for thirty-two years, 
his statue in free-stone was placed, in August, 1839, 
at the expense of local friends and neighbors. The 
artist was Mr. Alexander H. Ritchie of Musselburgh. 
A letter now before me, dated '^ Selkirk, 22d Novem- 
ber, 1838," and written by Mr. Andrew Lang, informs 
the sculptor that " it was mentioned in the commit- 
tee meeting that Sir Walter's shirt-neck was always 
very open, and lying over his neck-cloth ; also that 
his staff had a large nib, or handle, for the holding and 
resting on." Mr. Lang adds, " As you, fortunately 
for yourself, are perhaps not much acquainted with 
the shape and figure of a sheriff-court process, I send 
an actual process (Blackball agt. Elliot & Goven- 
loch, 1824) ; and as the size of it is, I think, scarcely 
enough, I have added some blank papers, making it 
up to what I think a proper size ; and you will be so 
good as to return the whole, — Process 12 Nos., be- 
sides Roll. It is one which, from the interlocutors 
on it, you will see had been repeatedly through Sir 
Walter's hands." The souters of Selkirk were re- 
solved, it appears, that the artist should be accurate 
in details. 

In the year 1871, statues of Sir Walter Scott will 
be erected in Boston ; and in the Central Park, New 
York; perhaps, also, in Philadelphia. 

The only statue of Sir Walter executed in his life- 
time was that by John Greenshields in free-stone ; 
previously mentioned as having had its station, for 



456 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

many years, in Mr. Cadell's publication-house in Ed- 
inburgh, where, at the same time, most of the manu- 
scripts of Scott's poems and romances were preserved. 
The well-known bust by Sir Francis Chantrey, in 
1820, was executed in marble for the Duke of Wel- 
lington in 1820, and is now in Apsley House, London. 
In 1828, Chantrey made two other busts from the life : 
one, which he presented to Sir Walter, is now in 
Abbotsford ; the other, also in marble, was purchased 
by the late Sir Robert Peel, and is now in the family 
mansion at Drayton Manor, Staffordshire. 

Mr. Joseph and Mr. Lawrence McDonald, Scottish 
sculptors, respectively made busts of Sir Walter Scott, 
— the former in 1822, the latter in 1830. Mr. Lock- 
hart does not eulogize either of these productions. 

Mr. Lockhart concludes with a catalogue raisonne 
of the various portraits of Sir Walter executed at 
various times. These are, — 1. A miniature taken at 
Bath before he was six years old : the profile has the 
well-known long upper lip. 2. A miniature, now at 
Abbotsford, presented to Miss Carpenter in 1797, a 
few weeks before her marriage, by Scott. 3. Por- 
trait by Saxon, three-quarter size, taken in 1805, the 
year when *' The Lay " appeared, and now in the 
possession of Longman & Co., publishers, in London. 
4. Full length, by Sir Henry Raeburn, painted in 1808 
for Mr. Constable the publisher, and now the prop- 
erty of the Duke of Buccleugh. 5. A copy of this, 
with some slight alterations, in 1809, now at Abbots- 
ford. 6. A head in oils, by Thomas Phillips, R.A., 
who made the best known portrait of Lord Byron, 
painted in 1818 for Mr. Murray the publisher. 
7. Sir Walter Scott and his family, by Wilkie. 8. A 
bold profile-head by Mr. Geddes of Edinburgh, in 
1818, for his portrait of '^ The Finding of the Scottish 
Regalia." 9. The portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence, 
a commission from George IV. in 1820, the time 



PORTRAITS. 457 

when the baronetcy was conferred, and now in Wind- 
sor Castle. 10. A head, Raeburn's last work, done 
in 1822 for Lord Montagu. 11. A small three- 
quarter size, by Gilbert Stuart Newton, for Mrs. 
Lockhart in 1824. 12. The half-length by C. R. 
Leslie, for the late Mr. George Ticknor of Boston, 
also done in 1824. 13. A small head by Mr. Knight, 
a young artist, painted in 1826, for which Sir Walter 
did not sit. 14. A half-length by Mr. Colvin Smith 
of Edinburgh in 1828. 15. A half-length by Mr. 
John Graham, for the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 
16. A half-length by Sir James Watson Gordon in 
1830. 17. A cabinet picture of Scott, with armor 
and stag-hounds, by Mr. (.now Sir Francis) Grant, 
also painted in 1830. 18. A head of Scott in Wil- 
kie's " Reception of George IV. at Holyrood " in 
1822. 19. A head in Sir William Allan's picture, 
" The Ettrick Shepherd's House-heating," in 1819. 
20. " The Author of ' Waverley ' in his Study," also 
by Allan, in 1831; now in the National Portrait 
Gallery, London. 21. A full-length by Sir Edwin 
Landseer, with the scenery of the Rhymer's Glen in- 
troduced, — painted some years after Sir Walter's 
death. 

There are several other portraits which Mr. Lock- 
hart has not enumerated. Among these, nearly all 
of which I have seen, are, — a head and standing 
figure of Scott, rapidly sketched by the late Dan- 
iel Maclise, R.A., on Bristol board, when a youth, in 
the book-shop of Mr. Bolster at Cork, during Sir 
Walter's visit to Ireland, and without his knowledge. 
One of these was then presented to him : the other 
was long in the possession of the Rev. John A. Bol- 
ster, Rector of Watergrass Hill, between Cork and 
Fermoy, of which " Father Prout " once was P. P. 
The lithographed full-length of Sir Walter, with 
two dogs, and in his easy country garb, even to the 



458 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

blue bonnet, which forms No. 6 of the now very 
scarce " Gallery of Illustrious Literary Characters," 
drawn by Maclise, which long formed the principal 
attraction in "Eraser's Magazine." This was pub- 
lished in the number for November, 1830. G. S. 
Newton's head of Sir Walter, sketched in London in 
1827 for Mr. John Inman, and engraved for " The 
New-York Mirror" in 1835. The late Mr. John 
Henning, a Scottish artist, long settled in Lon- 
don, who arranged and modelled the Elgin mar- 
bles, and afterwards drew and cut them in intaglio^ 
made a medallion of Sir Walter. He made a pen- 
and-ink drawing of the head for me, which is bold 
and massive. 

In an Enghsh magazine, " The Leisure Hour " for 
July, 1871, is engraved a good profile-portrait of 
Scott, sketched between 1816 and 1820, by Mr. 
Robert Scott MoncriefP. In 1820, Chantrey the sculp- 
tor made a sketch, also in profile (already mentioned), 
which very much resembles Sir Walter as I first 
saw him in 1825. When he was in London in 1828, 
Scott sat to Haydon for a sketch of his head. The 
painter duly journalized, that this sitting occupied 
" an hour and a half; and a delightful sitting it was." 
" Scott," he wrote, " has certainly the most pene- 
trating look I ever saw, except in Shakspeare's por- 
traits." This sketch was never finished. Haydon 
wrote after the first (and I believe the only) sitting, 
" I hit his expression exactly." In 1845, when I first 
saw the sketch in Haydon's studio, he said, " It is 
not good. I was painting ' Chairing the Member,' as 
a companion to ' The Mock Election in the King's- 
Bench Prison,' which George the Fourth had just 
purchased, and thought only of that. Besides, I do 
not always succeed with portraits." This sketch 
never reached Abbotsford. At the same time, James 
Northcote, then in his eighty-second year, desired to 



PORTRAITS. 459 

present himself as engaged in tlie act of painting Sir 
Walter Scott after the manner of some pictures of 
the Venetian school. This was for Sir William 
Knighton, private secretary of George IV., and a 
" mutual friend" of painter and poet. The picture 
was a success ; though Allan Cunningham declares 
there was a little timidity in the poet's head. North- 
cote introduced himself, wearing his Titian cap of 
velvet, and palette in hand, putting the finishing 
touch to the head of the poet. The likenesses were 
so good, that Northcote executed a replica. Mr. Faed, 
a Scottish artist, in a conversation-piece entitled '' Sir 
Walter Scott and his Friends," which is well known 
by engraving, represented Scott reading a manuscript 
to a party consisting of Henry 'Mackenzie, James 
Hogg, John Wilson, Rev. George Crabbe, J. G. Lock- 
hart, William Wordsworth, Thomas Moore, Francis 
Jeffrey, Sir Adam Fergusson, Thomas Campbell, Sir 
William Allan, Sir David Wilkie, Archibald Con- 
stable, James Ballantyne, Sir Humphry Davy, and 
Thomas Thompson. The likenesses are generally 
good, though scarcely any of them original. 

Of all these portraits, the best are those by Raeburn, 
Newton, Leshe, Chantrey, and Maclise. The Frase- 
rian sketch by the latter might be marked '•''Sic stet ; " 
for it literally shows him standing in the open air, 
unbonneted, in company with two dogs. Wilkie's 
well-known " Sir Walter Scott and his Family " was 
painted in 1818 from sketches made at Abbotsford 
in the preceding summer. It is on panel, cabinet 
size. Scott wrote, " It has something in it of a 
domestic character. The idea which our inimitable 
Wilkie adopted was to represent our family group 
in the garb of South-country peasants, supposed to be 
concerting a merry-making, for which some of the 
preparations are seen. The place is the terrace near 
Kaeside, commanding an extensive view towards the 



460 SIR WALTER SCOTT. [1825 

Eildon Hills. The sitting figure, in the dress of a 
miller, I believe represents Sir Walter Scott, author 
of a few-score volumes, and proprietor of Abbotsford, 
in the county of Roxburgh." In front, and repre- 
senting, we may suppose, a country wag somewhat 
addicted to poaching, stands Sir Adam Fergusson, 
keeper of the Regalia of Scotland. There are three 
female figures, — Scott's wife and two daughters, 
Sophia and Anne. The elder (afterwards Mrs. Lock- 
hart), wearing a dress embroidered after the German 
fashion, holds a cap or bonnet in her right hand, 
while she pats Maida, the famous Highland stag- 
hound, with the other. Anne Scott, barefooted, with 
a gypsy bonnet which bears a peacock-feather in front, 
is tripping along, a little mountain maiden, milk-pail 
(a liglin) in hand ; while by her side runs a little 
Highland terrier called Ourisk (goblin). These two 
figures, engraved in line, are the frontispieces to the 
sixth and seventh volumes of Osgood's illustrated 
household edition of the Waverley novels. Scott's 
two sons, and Thomas Scott, a shepherd, then eighty- 
four years old, complete the group. Wilkie's own 
account, in a letter to his sister from. Abbotsford, 
says, " The Misses Scott are dressed as country girls, 
with pails, as if they had come from milking ; Mr. 
Scott, as if telling a story ; and in one corner I have 
put in a great dog of the Highland breed, a present 
to Mr. Scott from the Laird of Glengarry." I have 
seen this picture, and two engravings of it, — one in a 
London annual, and the other as a frontispiece in the 
Abbotsford edition of the Waverley novels, — and must 
confess that Scott, as painted by Wilkie, is rather the 
miller than the poet. The idea of such a group may 
have been suggested by the picture of the Primrose 
family in "The Vicar of Wakefield," where stout 
Mrs. Primrose was represented as Venus, with her 
two little boys as Cupids by her side, one daughter 



PORTRAITS. 461 

as an Amazon, and the other as a Shepherdess, while 
the good Vicar was presenting his wife-controversy. 
None of the family was satisfied with the portrait of 
Mrs. Scott, which the painter often retouched with- 
out being able to produce likeness or character ; and, 
after she obtained her title, the Lady of Abbotsford 
less than ever tolerated the idea of being rejpresented 
as — a miller's wife ! 

Wilkie, it must be confessed, was not happy in his 
portraits. His great picture, " The Reading of the 
Will," painted for the King of Bavaria in 1819, was 
taken from a scene in " Guy Mannering," where rela- 
tions and legacy-expectants assemble after Lady Sin- 
gleside's funeral. He also painted a scene from " Old 
Mortality " for George IV. ; a sketch from " Peveril 
of the Peak " for Sir William Knighton ; and Mary 
Queen of Scots' Escape from Lochleven, — a large pic- 
ture, " full of beauty and chivalry," Allan Cunning- 
ham reports, — for which Mr. E. Dunno gave him six 
hundred guineas. In the last fifty years, Scott's 
writings have supplied subjects to artists in many 
lands,' — between two and three hundred, I sup- 
pose. 

Having a perfect recollection of Sir Walter's fea- 
tures, and having seen most of the portraits which I 
have mentioned, my impression is, that, for the most 
part, painters did not sufficiently notice the peculiar 
formation of his head. Well might Lord Robertson 
have exclaimed, as he saw him advancing in the outer 
hall of the Court of Session, his tall, conical head 
towering above the crowd of young barristers there, 
"Hush! here comes old Peveril! I see the peak!" 
In the Fraserian portrait by Maclise, the head towers 
up in a cone-like manner ; so much so, that, except 
by those who had noticed the peculiar formation, it 
might be considered as bordering on exaggeration. 
In the sketch by Newton, it was less strongly marked. 



462 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

Often, as I sat opposite Lord Brougham, reading 
proof-slieets for him, I noticed how the top of his 
head appeared as if the organ of veneration had 
been planed oif, so flat was it. What a remarkable 
contrast it presented to the vast height of Sir Wal- 
ter's ! 

The extreme length of the upper lip was another 
personal characteristic of Sir Walter Scott. Dr. Rob- 
ert Carruthers of Inverness, biographer of Pope, 
and a recognized authority upon Scottish literature, 
has said this " is by no means uncommon among the 
stalwart men of the Border, but is unquestionably 
a defect as respects personal appearance. It is 
noticeable in the miniature of Scott, taken in his 
sixth year, engraved as an illustration in Osgood's 
household edition of the " Life " by Lockhart. In con- 
nection with this, I beg to relate an anecdote which 
I heard from the lips of the late Mr. John Britton of 
London, distinguished by his numerous and accurate 
illustrated works on the architectural antiquities and 
cathedral antiquities of England. 

Mr. George Bullock of London gave valuable as- 
sistance in the construction, fitting-up, and furnish- 
ing of Abbotsford. What he did in this matter 
was entirely a labor of love. Mr. Bullock was a 
great collector of curiosities ; and Abbotsford owed 
much to his fine taste, great zeal, and large liberality. 
He died suddenly, in 1818; and among his sincerest 
mourners was Walter Scott. 

One of Mr. Bullock's enterprises was to take a 
cast of Shakspeare's monument in Stratford Church. 
He produced a fac-simile, of which he gave a copy to 
Sir Walter Scott, who placed it in a niche in the 
library at Abbotsford, where it stood upon a marble 
stand, which had the letters W. S. in large rilievo 
on its front. After Scott's death, his eldest son re- 
moved this Shakspeare monument, and placed in the 



THE SHAKSPEARE MONUMENT. 463 

niche the marble bust made in 1820 by Sir Francis 
Chant rey, and presented by him to Scott. 

Previous to the public view of the monumental 
effigy of Shakspeare, there was a private inspection 
at a breakfast given by Mr. Bullock to several of his 
friends. There were present Sir Walter Scott, Sir 
Francis Chantrey the sculptor, Allan Cunningham 
(the Scottish poet, who managed Chantrey's business), 
Mr. Britton, and perhaps one or two more. The 
repast, which resembled the famous matin-meal of 
Rogers, extended from nine until noon, during which 
there was an intermittent current of conversation. At 
last the Shakspeare monument was examined with 
interest by all, with critical care by Chantrey, who, 
having been called upon to give his opinion, declared 
that the face afforded in itself internal evidence of 
being an accurate resemblance, probably copied from 
a posthumous cast ; it had unfortunately been painted 
soon after it was cut in stone, and at a later period 
was whitewashed by Malone (the literary Goth who 
edited Shakspeare in the year 1790), so that the 
finer lines were effaced or indistinct ; but there were 
such inequalities in the features as are common 
enough in life, one side of a face rarely being an ex- 
act fac-simile of the other ; that he believed, chiefly 
from this, that the artist, however rude his execution, 
had copied, and not invented. Chantrey showed the 
points of difference which had at once been perceived 
by his practised eye. The general opinion of the party 
was, that he had estabhshed his theory ; but Scott 
observed that the head was high beyond all propor- 
tion, and that the upper lip was much too long. Chan- 
trey's answer was, that Scott's own head was, at least, 
as high. "As for the lip," he said, "we can measnre 
it, and settle that point at once." Drawing a little 
case of instruments from his pocket, he brought out 
a measure in which each inch was divided into minute 



464 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

lines, and, applying it to the effigy, said, " I fancy. Sir 
Walter, that this inordinate upper lip is not longer 
than your own." On careful measurement, it appeared 
that Scott's upper lip was several lines longer than 
Shakspeare's, and exactly the length, as noted down 
in Chantrey's memorandum-book not long before, of 
the Duke of Wellington's. " I have noticed," said 
Chantrey, " and my experience in bust-making has 
been large, that a long upper lip generally indicates 
great power of mind. There are exceptions, of eourse ; 
and such as Lord Byron, Dr. Johnson, Napoleon, 
Moore the poet, Sheridan, and most of their country- 
men, show the contrary." When Miss Seward first 
saw Walter Scott (it was in 1807, after he had won 
his first great triumph with "The Lay "), she described 
him as " tall, and rather robust than slender, but lame 
in the same manner as Mr. Hayley, and in a greater 
measure. Neither the contour of his face, nor yet his 
features, are elegant ; his complexion healthy, and 
somewhat fair, without bloom. We find the singu- 
larity of brown hair and eye-lashes, with flaxen eye- 
brows, and a countenance open, ingenuous, and benev- 
olent. When seriously conversing or earnestly atten- 
tive, though his eyes are rather of a Hghtish gray, 
deep thought is on their lids. He contracts his brow, 
and the rays of genius gleam aslant from the orbs be- 
neath them. An upper lip too long prevents his mouth 
from being decidedly handsome ; but the sweetest 
emanations of temper and heart play about it when 
he talks cheerfully or smiles : and in company he is 
much oftener gay than contemplative. His conver- 
sation is an overflowing fountain of brilHant wit, ap- 
posite allusion, and playful archness ; while, on se- 
rious themes, it is nervous and eloquent ; the accent 
decidedly Scotch, yet by no means broad." Her wo- 
man's quick eye had noticed the " too long " upper 
lip. Lame herself, she seems to have had a strong 



INCAPACITY FOR MUSIC. 465 

natural sjrmpathy with the stalwart man of genius, 
who suffered under a like affliction with Byron and 
Talleyrand. 

With the massive frame and bold spirit of a Bor- 
der mass-trooper of the olden time, — and his own an- 
cestry was crowded with such, — Sir Walter Scott was 
a fearless and skilful rider. He delighted in cours- 
ing, and was built for athletic sports and exercises. 
In the country, he passed half his time in the open 
air, — as often on foot as on horseback ; for his lame- 
ness did not prevent him from taking a great deal of ex- 
ercise on foot. His official duties detained him above 
five months in each year in Edinburgh, where his 
life was almost sedentary ; but he endeavored to 
make up for it by out-of-door life in the country. 

Scott had as much incapacity for music and paint- 
ing as for Greek. His own account is simple enough : 
" My mother was anxious that we should learn 
psalmody ; but the incurable defects of my voice 
and ear soon drove my teacher to despair. The late 
Alexander Campbell, a warm-hearted man, and an 
enthusiast in Scottish music, which he sang most 
beautifully, had this ungrateful task imposed on him. 
. . . He would never allow that I had a bad ear ; 
but contended, that, if I did not understand music, it 
was because I did not choose to learn it. But, when 
he attended us in George's Square, our neighbor, 
Lady Gumming, sent to beg that the boys might not 
be all flogged precisely at the same hour, as, though 
she had no doubt the punishment was deserved, the 
noise of the concord was really dreadful. Robert 
was the only one of the family who could sing; 
though my father was musical, and a performer on 
the violoncello at the ' gentlemen's concerts.' It is 
only by long practice that I have acquired the 
power of selecting or distinguishing melodies ; and 
although now few things delight or affect me more 

80 



466 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

than a simple tune sung with feeling, yet I am 
sensible that even this pitch of musical taste has 
only been gained by attention and habit, and, as it 
were, by my feeling of the words being associated 
with the time." According to this confession, he 
might have paired off with the mayoress of an Eng- 
lish provincial town, who (Lord Byron tells the 
story), fatigued with the difficult ornamentation of 
foreign singing, broke through the general plaudits 
of would-be connoisseurs with the unsophisticated 
exclamation, " Rot your Italianos ! For my part, I 
loves a simple ballat ! " 

Mr. Gillies, who knew Scott very well, says, " He 
delighted in music ; and there were many Scotch 
airs for which he had an enthusiastic predilection, 
and which, without any pretensions to any musical 
voice, he could strike up in convivial parties with 
perfect correctness ; though, for the sake of enter- 
taining his auditors, the performance was generally 
grotesque, and the ditty comic." It was chiefly in 
the chorus, I have heard, that Scott exhibited his 
vocal powers, such as they were. 

Mr. John VandenhofP, the latest good actor of the 
Kemble school, who had been a steward of the 
theatrical-fund dinner at Edinburgh in 1827 when 
Scott acknowledged the authorship of the Waver- 
ley novels, who had frequently met him in private, 
and who, though a tragedian, could give burlesque 
imitations with great spirit and success, did me the 
favor, more than once, to represent Scott towards 
the close of a symposium in Edinburgh, There is a 
familiar Scottish song with the refrain, " Bannocks o' 
bear-meal, bannocks o' barley ; " and, after hearing 
a stanza or two (it seemed to have as many verses 
as the hundredth and nineteenth Psalm has alpha- 
betical divisions), Scott would strike in, quietly at 
first, and rather sotto voce, but, soon growing excited, 



INCAPACITY FOR PAINTING. 467 

would finally lead the chorus in Highland fashion, 
the company following suit, with every variation of 
voice and tone, and unlimited movements of head and 
hand. 

Washington Irving, Edward Everett, " Peter Par- 
ley," and others, have recorded with what intense 
delight Sir Walter listened to his daughter when 
she sang Scottish songs for him. Mr. Adolphus, 
Thomas Moore, and Julian Young, gave similar testi- 
mony. Soon after Moore's visit to Abbotsford in 
1825, Sir Walter wrote in his diary, " Tom Moore's 
is the most exquisite warbling I ever heard. . . . 
I do not know, and cannot utter, a note of music ; 
and complicated harmonies seem to me a babble of 
confused though pleasing sounds. Yet simple melo- 
dies, especially if connected with words and ideas, 
have as much effect on me as on most people. But 
then I hate to hear a young person sing without feel- 
ing and expression suited to the song. I cannot bear 
a voice that has no more life in it than a piano-forte 
or a bugle-horn." All accounts unite in agreeing 
that Scott dearly loved such music as from associa- 
tion, feeling, memory, and affection came home to his 
heart ; loved it all the better because it was sung by 
his own daughter with an exquisite simplicity which 
soared far, far above the intricacies and tricks of con- 
cert or operatic execution. 

As regards painting, he proved wholly incapable. 
He took lessons from a Prussian, who did not succeed 
even in teaching him how to draw (" Nature," he 
afterwards diarized, " denied me the correctness of 
eye, and neatness of hand"), but told him long 
stories about the battles of Frederick. The desire to 
become a draughtsman at least was strong, and the 
effort was very great ; but the result was a failure. A 
year or two later, he placed himself under a good 
teacher named Walker ; but the most favorable issue 



468 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

was, that he " did learn to take some vile views from 
Nature." It grieved him all his life that he never 
was able to make sketches of those places that inter- 
ested him. But, in the absence of all skill in draw- 
ing, he had a habit, from the first time that scenery 
interested him, of impressing upon his mind all the 
points that struck him ; and, by the aid of that 
memory which was almost as remarkable as his ge- 
nius, of so describing each place, either in poetry or 
in prose, that the reader very often could recognize 
in Nature what he had read in print. 

Nor was it scenery alone that he thus retained and 
reproduced, but castles, towers, cathedrals, ruins, 
antiquities of all sorts, and persons. In 1815, when 
he visited Paris, he noticed, that, on close inspection, 
the face of Platoff, Hetman of the Cossacks, was 
reticulated, as it were, by multitudinous minute 
wrinkles ; and in 1823, when writing " St. Ronan's 
Well," having to describe a certain Mr. Touchwood 
on his entrance into the hostelry of Meg Dods, he 
said, "His face, which, at the distance of a yard or 
two, seemed hale and smooth, appeared, when closely 
examined, to be seamed with a milHon of wrinkles, 
crossing each other in every direction possible, but as 
fine as if drawn by the point of a very small needle." 
Scott's way, we are told, on a journey among the 
hills, especially if the district were new to him, was, to 
fall at times into fits of silence, revolving in his mind, 
and perhaps throwing into language, the ideas that 
were suggested at the moment by the landscape ; and 
hence those who had often been his companions 
knew the origin of many beautiful passages in his 
future works. 

In his own Abbotsford many paintings are to be 
seen, some by renowned artists ; but he valued these, 
not because of their pictorial merit, but because the 
subject represented, animate or inanimate, was of in- 



PAINTING BY BIRD. 469 

terest to him, or because he had a personal regard for 
the painter. In this, as in many other things, he was 
impressed and influenced by association. He prized 
his picture of Fast Castle far above any landscape by 
Claude Lorraine, because it represented a Scottish 
scene, and had been painted by his friend the Rev. John 
Thompson of Duddingstone ; and had no apprecia- 
tion of the genius of Turner until he saw it employed 
in painting the loved localities which his own pen 
had made celebrated. As for scenery in general, he 
scarcely minded any, however grand or beautiful, with 
which some historical or poetical or personal feeling 
was not associated. Thus Washington Irving was not 
a little disappointed when on the banks of the Tweed 
— which would have been considered in this coun- 
try as a petty creek of no account — he was shown 
scenes, almost barren, which " The Minstrel " had 
made known throughout the world ; and gave utter- 
ance to the thought. Scott said, after a pause, " It 
may be partiality ; but to my eye these gray hills and 
all this wild border country have beauties pecuhar to 
themselves. I like the very nakedness of the land : 
it has something bold and stern and sohtary about it. 
When I have been for some time in the rich scenery 
about Edinburgh, which is like ornamented garden- 
land, I begin to wish myself back again among my 
own honest gray hills ; and, if I did not see the 
heather at least once a year, I think I should die ! " 

There is one picture at Abbotsford which its owner 
highly valued. No mention of it has been made 
by Mr. Lockhart, or any other biographer. It is the 
original sketch of a painting which owed some of its 
details to Scott himself. Edward Bird, an English 
artist, who for a short time (1809-1810) was the 
rival of Wilkie in the painting of humble and domes- 
tic life, aspired to what is called " high art," and ex- 
pended much labor upon such subjects as " The Field 



470 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

of Chevy Chase," " The Death of Eli," " The Sur- 
render of Calais," " The Depurture of Louis XVIII. 
for Paris," et ccetera. Of these, only the first, now 
owned by the Duke of Sutherland, has any particular 
merit. In December, 1811, Mr. Eagles, brother of 
the Rev. John Eagles of Bristol (the sketcher of 
" Blackwood's Magazine "), wrote to Walter Scott, 
whom he did not know, informing him that Mr. Bird 
intended to paint a picture on the heroic ballad of 
Chevy Chase, which Sir Philip Sidney said roused 
him like the sound of a trumpet, and which Ben 
Jonson affirmed was well worth all his own dramas ; 
and solicited the Minstrel to give him some informa- 
tion respecting the costume of his Border country- 
men towards the end of the fourteenth century, — 
the era of the great battle between the retainers of the 
powerful houses of Douglas and Percy. The good 
nature of Scott was almost as great as his knowledge ; 
and his reply to Mr. Eagles, which occupies nearly 
two pages in " Blackwood's Magazine," gave full and 
minute details as to armor, weapons, helmets, cos- 
tume, &c., of the time and place. Two of these 
items are of interest now: first, that the tartan or 
Highland plaid was never in use among the Borderers, 
though the shepherd's maud was and is ; and next, 
that the leading features of the Douglas family are 
'' an open, high forehead, a long face, and a very dark 
complexion." The time chosen by the artist was the 
day after the battle ; the text being, — 

" Next day did many widows come 
Their husbands to bewayle : 
They washed their wounds in brinish tears ; 
But all would not prevayle. 

Theyr bodies, bathed in purple blood, 

They bare with them away : 
They kist them dead a thousand times 

Ere they were cladd in clay." 



ENGRAVING OF CHEVY CHASE. 471 

Mr. Bird derived so much advantage from the an- 
tiquarian information communicated by Walter Scott, 
that, in gratitude, he presented him with the original 
sketch in oils, as well as an impression of the mezzo- 
tinto engraving by Mr. Young. I have long been in 
possession of the poet's letter acknowledging these 
gifts. No previous biographer of Scott has seen 
it ; and I print it verbatim^ with the exception 
that I have punctuated it, — a point which the great 
author usually omitted. This inedited letter runs 
thus : — 

To Mr. Bird, Artist, Bristol. 

Dear Sir, — I cannot refrain from troubling you once more to 
express my extreme satisfaction with " The Battle-Field of Chevy 
Chase," of which, being a Borderer, I may perhaps be allowed to 
be in some degree a judge. Upon comparing the sketch with 
which you honored me with the engraving which I received the 
other day by Lady Stafford's kindness, my admiration of both is, 
if possible, increased, and convinces me that my curiosity to see 
how the painting itself should correspond with the highly-spirited 
sketch ought to have been accompanied with no shadow of doubt 
as to your power of bringing out and finishing the details of an 
undertaking so happily imagined in the first conception. 

I have heard with pleasure that your distinguished talents are 
at present engaged in embodying for posterity a representation of 
the departure of the King of France for his own dominions, and 
arrival at Calais. The modern dress is not favorable for the artist : 
but your genius can surmount greater obstacles ; and every one must 
rejoice in the prospect that events so highly honorable to this coun- 
try are likely to be given to the eyes of those who had not the 
advantage of seeing the reality. Once more, sir, accept my best 
thanks for the valuable present you have made. Lady Stafford's 
print graces my cottage upon Tweed-side ; and your sketch is to 
hang over my library chimney-piece in this place, surrounded by 
broad-swords, battle-axes, and targets which may have been at 
Chevy Chase themselves, for any thing I know. 

I am, sir, very truly, your much-obliged, humble servant, 

Walter Scott. 

GdinbusGH, 20 May, 1814. 



472 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

Although he could not draw, and was not particu- 
lar as to the character of the paintings in his house 
as works of art, — their chief value to him being 
derived from association, — Sir Walter had a correct 
idea of the art. Sir Thomas LaAvrence * had ob- 
jected to persons criticising works of art who were 
not themselves artists. Scott, taking a wider range, 
said, " Nay, consider. Art professes but to be a 
better sort of Nature, and, as such, appeals to the 
taste of the world : surely, therefore, a wise man of 
the world may judge its worth, and feel its sentiment, 
though he cannot produce it. He may not know 
how it is produced ; yet I see not that he may not 
estimate its beauty." 

Lastly, Walter Scott had one accomplishment, of 
great value in authorship. Owing to several years' 
copying legal documents, which are nothing if not 
legible, he wrote singularly well. In 1840, I was 
kindly permitted by the late Mr. Robert Cadell, his 
excellent friend and publisher, to examine that very 
curious and interesting collection, the original manu- 
scripts (since dispersed by public auction), once be- 
longing to Archibald Constable. All of these manu- 
scripts up to 1814, when " Waverley " was published, 
show a " hand o' write " bold, clear, and round. After 



* As I have mentioned Lawrence, may I be allowed to rescue from one 
of his letters to a lady a brilliant pen-portrait of Byron, who greatly 
admired, but never sat to him as an artist? — "Lavater's system never 
asserted its truth more forcibly," Lawrence wrote, "than in Byron's coun- 
tenance, in which you see all the character, — its keen and rapid genius, 
its pale intelligence, its profligacy, and its bitterness ; its original symmetry, 
distorted by ttie passions ; his laugh of mingled merriment iind scorn; the 
forehead clear and open, the brow boldly prominent, the eyes bright and 
dissimilar, the nose finely cut, and the nostril acutely formed ; the mouth 
well made, but wide, and contemptuous even in its smile, falling singularly 
at the corners, and its vindictive and disdainful expression heightened by 
the massive firmness at the chin, which springs at once from the centre of 
the full underlip ; the hair dark and curling, but irregular in its growth. 
All this presents to you the poet and the man ; and the general effect is height- 
ened by a thin, spare form, and, as you may have heard, by a deformity of 
limb." 



HIS HANDWRITING. 473 

that, Scott seemed to have become careless : perhaps 
he wrote too rapidly and too much. Part of ^' Ivan- 
hoe," and of some other of the novels, had been writ- 
ten by an amanuensis, to whom, in the intervals of 
anguish from bodily suffering, the author had dictated 
them. More confiding than Lord Byron, who, in Eng- 
land, actually paid a person to complete his poetry by 
putting in the necessary punctuation-marks, Scott left 
every thing to those experienced gentlemen of the 
printing-office, the compositors and reader. "Wa- 
verley " and all the rest of that series were carefully 
transcribed for the press by confidential persons, it 
being an important object to prevent the discovery 
of authorship by handwriting ; but all the acknowl- 
edged poetry and prose was sent to the printers in 
Scott's own (scarcely punctuated) manuscript. He 
had little patience with correspondents who did not 
write legibly ; and often declared, what I believe to 
be incorrect, that one man could write as well as 
another, if he would only take the trouble. He might 
as well have said that there was a similar potentiality 
among human beings as to composition. If, as has 
been said, '• punctuaUty is the virtue of princes," 
surely legible writing ought to be considered the duty 
of all others. 

In his later years, Scott wrote very illegibly ; run- 
ning the words into each other, and sometimes only 
half forming them, particularly the terminations. I 
have before me now several of Sir Walter's letters, 
of various dates, from 1814 to 1828 ; and the gradual 
change, year after year, from a full and clear into a 
feeble and scarcely legible hand, can readily be 
traced. Scott, it may comfort some persons to know, 
committed not a few mistakes in spelhng in his ear- 
lier manuscripts. 

In March, 1822, Sir Walter Scott presented the 
manuscripts of the Waverley novels to Mr. Con- 



474 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

stable, his publisher. After the financial disaster of 
1826, these autographs were sold, Mr. Cadell being 
the principal purchaser. Mr. Gibson says that they 
''are now partly at Abbotsford, and partly in the 
British Museum. The manuscript of ' Waverley ' 
is in the Advocates' Library ; and that of ' The Bride 
of Lammermoor ' is now the property of my friend 
Mr. Christopher Douglas, W. S." 

The manuscript of " The Lay of the Last Min- 
strel " was not saved in the printing-office after the 
compositors had used it.* 

Although Sir Walter Scott was familiar with the 
acting and written drama, he did not succeed when 
he wrote for the stage. His early play, " The House 
of Aspen," was at one time under consideration at 
Drury-lane Theatre ; but Mr. John Kemble's verdict 
was, that there was " too much blood, too much of 
the dire catastrophe of ' Tom Thumb,' where all die 
on the stage." There is another piece, " The Doom 
of Devorgoil," written expressl}^ for the Adelphi 
Theatre, London, which the manager (Mr. Terry, 
Sir Walter's particular friend) was compelled to de- 
clare unactable: it contains " Bonny. Dundee," one 
of Scott's latest and best ballads. In the last act, 
Owlspiegle, a spectre-barber, chants a song, the oft- 
repeated refrain of which is, — 

" Cockledemoy ! 
My boy, my boy 1 
What wilt thou do that will give thee joy ? " — 

which would strike a keen London audience as the 
height of absurdity. 

Yet in his poems, as well as in his novels. Sir 

* There are as extravagant notions in the minds of some people about 
the value of autographs as there formerly was as to the value of a Queen 
Aune's farthing, once supposed to be worth a thousand pounds. A curious 



WORKS OF SHAKSPEARE. 475 

Walter Scott has many characters and scenes of the 
highest dramatic effect ; and the plots are so well de- 
veloped, that very little labor was necessary to adapt 
them to the stage. Of the poems, " Marmion " and 
" The Lady of the Lake " were converted into good 
acting plays. " Guy Mannering," " Rob Roy," " The 
Heart of Mid-Lothian," "The Bride of Lammer- 
moor," " Ivanhoe," " Kenilworth," " Peveril of the 
-Peak," " Quentin Durward," and perhaps others, 
were thus adapted, generally with great success ; 
and half a dozen Itahan operas were constructed out 
of Sir Walter's romances in prose and verse. It was 
thought by many of his friends, — Sou they among 
them, — that, if he had devoted himself in his later 
years to dramatic composition, his success might have 
been as great as it had been in other departments of 
literature ; but, in one of his letters to Miss Edge- 
worth, he expressed the strongest objection to writing 
for the stage. 

It would appear that Scott had not only meditated, 
but partly executed, an edition of Shakspeare. At 
least. Dr. Wynne mentions that in the library of the 
late Mr. Thomas P. Barton are " three volumes in 
8vo, without titles or dates, but printed by James 
Ballantyne & Co., containing twelve plays ; being all 
those which are called ' Comedies ' in the folios, 
with the exception of ' Tempest ' and ' Winter's 
Tale.' " They were obtained from Mr. Rodd (a well- 
read London bibliographer), who has written in one 
of them a long and interesting note, commencing with 

instance of this occurred in Philadelphia since I began to -write this book. 
In June, 1834, a highly-respectable tradesman in that city, Scotch by birth, 
was presented at Abbotsford with three lines, which, he was told, had been 
cut from the manuscript of "The Crusaders." It is very probable that 
these lines were written by Sir Walter Scott; but there is no proof, not even 
the slightest, that they were. There is neither signature nor date: but the 
enthusiastic owner offered them for sale for three hundred dollars ; which is 
one hundred dollars per line ! Even if proof of authenticity could be given, 
two or three dollars would have been a high price. 



476 SIR WALTER SCOTT. 

these words : " I purchased these three volumes 
from a sale at Edinburgh. They were entered in the 
catalogue as ' Shakspeare's Works, edited by Sir 
Walter Scott and Lockhart, vols, ii., iii., iv. (aU 
published), unique.' That Scott entertained the de- 
sign of editing Shakspeare, I know from A. Constable, 
who mentioned it to me more than once ; and I sent 
him a little book of memoranda for Scott's use." In 
no biography of Scott, nor yet in his published cor- 
respondence, is there a hint of this edition of Shak- 
speare ; nor can I think that he would have been able 
to give such a work the necessary time and care. If 
the three volumes in question were partly Sir Wal- 
ter's work, it must have been previous to the sum- 
mer of 1825, while Mr. Lockhart was still in Scot- 
land. 



It befits me now to conclude this story of Sir Wal- 
ter Scott's life. I have written in vain, if in these 
pages the reader has not learned, better than I could 
now tell in a labored summing-up, what was the 
character, personal and literary, of the author of 
" Waverley." His genius was finely balanced by his 
goodness of heart and his plain common sense : the 
last, it may be said, ought to have kept him out of 
worldly misfortunes ; but these, which arose out of a 
business connection entered into for the purpose of 
helping an old school-fellow, exhibited his character 
even more fully than his writings did. Until long 
after he had passed middle age, his condition in the 
world had been truly enviable : he seemed to have 
secured fame and fortune. The worldly prosperity- 
passed away : but the glory died not ; for he devoted 
the remainder of his life to clearing off the heavy 
amount of debt which had been incurred by his name^ 



A WELL-SPENT LIFE. 477 

and not by his person. He succeeded ; but his life 
was the sacrifice. 

Exemplary in all the relations of domestic life, Sir 
Walter Scott had " troops of friends," and no ene- 
mies. He bore his great faculties meeldy ; and this 
good, great man, 

" High placed in courts a welcome guest," 

was beloved and honored on his own Tweed-side by 
the peasantry and the laborers as if he indeed were 
their acknowledged chief. He was better : he was 
their friend. In the king's palace, in the nobles' 
stately halls, there was honor and there were compli- 
ments for the mighty Minstrel ; but at home, where 
every peasant was sufficiently well educated to un- 
derstand his writings, there was pride in the fact that 
their friend " the Shirra " was considered worthy to 
mate with princes, and towered over them in mind 
as well as in body. His particular temperament and 
his High-Tory principles, together with his poetical 
leaning towards the by-gone days of chivalry, with 
feudalism as its basis, made him strongly in favor of 
rank and possessions inherited from ancestors who 
had won both by head or hand. But it is a mistake 
to say that Sir Walter courted the aristocracy : it was 
the aristocracy who courted him. 

We have seen how easily, how hopefully, he 
passed away, cheered, while consciousness remained, 
by the assurances which faith finds in the inspired 
writings ; and how his latest words were those of a 
humble, trusting Christian. As he lay on his death- 
bed, the scenes of his long life may have passed 
through his mind, one by one ; but there could not 
have been, in that sad array of memoried incidents, 
any regret at talent neglected, wasted, or ill-directed. 
In Rome, a few months before his death, he said, 
thoughtfully and earnestly, '* I am drawing near to 



478 



SIR WALTER SCOTT. 



the close of my career: I am fast shuffling off the 
stage. I have perhaps been the most voluminous au- 
thor of the day ; and it is a comfort to me to think 
that I have tried to unsettle no man's faith, to cor- 
rupt no man's principle, and that I have written 
nothing which, on my death-bed, I should wish 
blotted." 




I l*f D E X. 



Abbot, the, published, 296. 

Abbotsford, purchase of, 178. Re- 
moval to, 190. Plantations at, 190. 
Flitting to, 190. House-heating of, 
283. Open house at, 303. Com- 
pleted, and Christmas-party at, 347. 
A large hotel, where persons did not 
pay, 381. Cost of, 394. Description 
of, 396-405. Present heir of, 281. 

Abbotsford hunt, 74. 

Adam, Dr., of the High School, 33. 
Death, 37. 

Adolphus, John Leycester, notice of, 
318. Letters on authorship of Wa- 
verley, 319-324. Death, 318. 

Aiken, Letitia, reads Taylor's transla- 
tion of Lenore at Dugald Stewart's, 
79. 

Lucy, letter from, 80. 

Album-verses by Scott, 129, 248. 

Allibone, Dr. J. A., his Dictionary 
quoted from, 206, 263, 266. 

Angling, Scott's dislike to, 75. 

Anne of Swansea, Minerva-press nov- 
elist, 207. 

Annesley peerage, the, 228. 

Antiquary, the, 245. 

Arago. the astronomer, his opinion of 
Lord Brougham's French, 73. 

•* Ariosto of the North," Scott so des- 
ignated by Byron, 189. 

Armory at Abbotsford, 400. 

Ashestiel in Selkirkshire, Scott's re- 
moval to, 118. 

Autographs, value of, over-estimated, 
474. 



B. 



Backgammon, Scott's favorite game, 
75. 

Baillie, Joanna, her drama per- 
formed, 156. 



Ballantyne, James, Scott's school- 
fellow at Kelso, 40. His skUl ia 
verbal criticism, 103 et passim. Es- 
tablishes a newspaper at Kelso, 103. 
Prints twelve copies of Scott's bal- 
lads, 104. Prints the Border Min- 
strelsy at Kelso, 114. Established 
as a printer in Edinburgh. 116. 
Scott lends him money, 122. Is 
admitted as a secret partner, 133. 
Has a share in Scott's publishing- 
house. 152. Private social readings 
from Scott's works in the press, 160. 
His reply to Miss Edgeworth's 
letter on Waverley, 217. Marriage 
with Miss Hogarth, 281. Editor of 
Edinburgh Weekly Journal, 289. 
Death, 451. 

.John, nominal head of Scott's 

publishing-house, 152. Memoir of 
Daniel Defoe by, 153. Opens auc- 
tion-rooms in Edinburgh, 276. Pro- 
jects the Novelists' Library, 308. 
Death of, 311. 

Bannatyne Club, 342. 

Bedrooms in Abbotsford, comforts of, 
405. 

Bell-rock Lighthouse, scene at, 247. 

Betrothed, tlie, 350. 

Billiards, Scott's objection to, 75. 

Bird, Edward, Scott's letter to, 471. 

Black Dwarf, 250. 

Blacklock, Dr., the blind poet, .38. 

Blarney Stone visited, .357. 

Blessed Bear of Bradwardine, its 
prototypes in Forfar and Roxburgh 

BlUcher,' Prince, at Paris, 244. 

Bonaparte, Napoleon. — See Napo- 
leon. 

Book-lending, 402. 

Border Minstrelsy, origin of, 104. 
Published, 114. 

Brevoort, Henry, meets Scott at Edin- 
burgh, 259. Receives a collection of 
479 



480 



INDEX. 



rare American tracts from him, 260. 
Compares Scott with Jeffrey, 261. 

Bridal of Triermain, 186. 

Bride of Lammermoor, 283. Origin 
of, 290. 

Britton, John, anecdote by, 462. 

Brougham, Lord, 72. A great novel- 
reader, 202. Peculiar shape of his 
head, 461. 

Bullock, George, death of, 277. Cast 
of Shakspeare's Monument, 462. 

Burns, Robert, his meeting with Scott, 
51. They are opposed in politics, 54. 
His son at Abbotsford. 439. 

Byron, Lord, his opinion of Scott's 
recitation, 24. His first rhymes, 37. 
Letter to Scott, 158. Scott's inti- 
macy with, 239. Last meeting with 
Scott, 244. Bequeaths mourning- 
ring to Scott, 268. Death, 345. 
Tribute to the memory of, 345. De- 
scription of, by Sir T. Lawrence, 
472. 



C. 



Cadell, Robert, publisher, 160. Re- 
established in business, .387. Clears 
off Scott's debts, 407. Suggests the 
Opus Magnum, 417. Death, 451. 

Campbell, Thomas, predicts the suc- 
cess of the Lay, 131. 

Canning, George, 113. 

Cards, a pair of, at Abbotsford, 76. 

Carlisle Castle, Fergus Mac Ivor's 
dungeon shown there, 215. 

Carpenter, Charlotte Margaret, her 
personal attractions, 88. Original 
of Di Vernon, 88. Her family his- 
tory, 89. Her love-letters to Scott, 
91. Mystery about, 92. Marriage, 
94. — See Lady Scott. 

Chantrey, Sir Francis, his busts of 
Scott, 298. Portrait-sketch by, 458. 

Charles X. at Holyrood, appeal for, 
433. 

Charpentier, John, Lady Scott's 
brother, 89. Death of, 284. 

Chess, Scott's objection to, 75. 

Chevalier, the Young, 214. 

Chevy Chase, battle-field of, 469. 

Chronicles of the Canongate, 415. 

Clans, history of, Scott urged to write 
when he was nineteen, 60. 

Clarty Holes (now Abbotsford), pur- 
chase of, 178. 

Claverhouse, character favorably 
drawn by Scott, 252. 

Clerk, William, an early associate. 60. 
Original of Darcie Latimer in Red- 
gauntlet, 63. Confidant in love- 
affair, 82. 

Club, the, in London, 59. In Edin- 
burgh, 69. 



Cockburn, Mrs., author of the Flow- 
ers of the Forest, describes Scott's 
precocity, 30. 

Lord, on Scottish drinking-habits, 

157. 

Coleridge, S. T., the metre of his 
Christabel, 107. 

Conquest of Granada written by 
Scott at the age of sixteen, and 
burned, 62. 

Constable, Archibald, publishes Mar- 
mion, 1.38. Refuses to pay a thou- 
sand pounds for "Waverley, 209. 
Employs Scott to write three essays 
for Encyclopagdia Britannica, 210. 
Suggests the title of Rob Roy, 256. 
First purchase of Scott's copyrights, 
285. Second ditto, 330. Gives a 
thousand pounds for Halidon Hill, 
the work of two rainy mornings, 
334. Third purchase of copyrights, 
343. Projects a cheap miscellany, 
349. His decline and fall, 379. 
Death, 451. 

George, at Preston-Pans, 27. 

Cooper, J. F., Scott's opinion of his 
Pilot, 272. 

Coutts, Miss, at Abbotsford, 268. 

Crabbe, Rev. George, imitation of, 
176. 

CuUoden, battle of, 25. 

Cunningham, Allan, 297. 



D. 



D'Aguesseau, Chancellor of France, 
on the noblesse de la robe, 48. 

Dalgetty, Ensign, met at Preston- 
Pans, 28. 

Davy, Sir Humphry, at Helvellyn, 
136. Marries Mrs. Apreece, 189. 
Scott's opinion of, 190. 

De JoinvUle, bon Sire, French of, 
72. 

Dickens, Charles, his reading, 23. 
His character of Mrs. Pipchin, 29. 

Disraeli, Benjamin, Miss Coutts the 
original of Mrs. Million in Vivian 
Grey, 268. 

Dominie Sampson, Lancelot "Whale, 
and George Thompson, originals of, 
38, 192. 

Dramatic productions, 474. 

Dryburgh Abbey, 19. Scott's burial- 
place in, 450. 

Dryden, John, Scott edits the works 
of, 145. 



E. 



Eagles, Mr., Scott's letter to, 470. 
Edgeworth, Miss, Scott's letter to, 86. 
Compliment in the postscript of 



INDEX. 



481 



Waverley, 216. Her long-lost letter 
to the unknown author, 217-221. 
Accompanies Scott through Ire- 
land, 354. At Fermoy, 366. 

Edinburgh Review, Scott contributes 
to, 118. 

Elizabeth, Queen, pen-portrait of, 309. 

Ellis, George, editor of Specimens 
of the Early English Poets, 113. 

English novel invented by Richard- 
son and Fielding. 20i. 

Erskine, William, Scott's early friend, 
101. Bridal of Triermain attributed 
to, 186. Death of, 332. 



Fair Maid of Perth, the, 419. 

Fcrgusson, Adam, his account of the 
meeting of Burns and Scott, 53. In 
the lines of Torres Vedras, 171. 
Appointed keeper of the Scottish 
Regalia, 277. Knighted, 338. 

Professor, visited by Burns and 

Scott, 53. At the battle of Fon- 
tenoy, 54. 

Fermoy, Scott at, .360. 

Fifteen, the (Lords of Session), 48. 

Forbes, Sir William, of Pitsligo, mar- 
ries Miss Leslie, Scott's first love. 85. 

Fox, Charles James, his pronuncia- 
tion of French, 74. Compliments 
M. G. Lewis on the Monk, 100. 

Eraser, Luke, teacher in the High 
School, 32. 

Freneau, Philip, Scott borrows a line 
from, 145. 



G. 



Gardiner, Col., slain at Preston-Pans, 
26. 

Gell, Sir William, 443. 

George IV., his visit to Scotland, 
336-38. Entertains Scott at Wind- 
sor, 389. Death of, 428. — See 
Prince Regent. 

Giant's Causeway seen, 193. 

Gibson, John, his reminiscences, 380. 
Trustee to Scott's estate, .385. 

Giilillan, Rev. George, scandalous 
anecdote in his Life of Scott, 92. 

Gilsland, Scott's visit to, 87. Meets 
Miss Carpenter at, 88. The Pop- 
ping-Stone at, 90. 

Gleig, Rev. G. R., his article on Scott 
in Quarterly Review, 427. 

Goethe, translation from, 82. Pub- 
lished in London, 96. Correspond- 
ence with, 414. Death of, 443. 

Goodrich, S. G., 272. 

Gourgaud, Gen., objects to Life of 
Napoleon, 412. 

81 



Great Unknown, the, 410. 

Greenshields, John, sculptor, his 
statue of Scott, 420. Death, 421. 

Grimm, William, Letter to, 72. 

Guy Mannering, origin of, 228. Pub- 
lication, 230. The cave-scene, 232. 



H. 



Handwriting, Scott's, 473. 

Hardyknute, ballad of, Byron affect- 
ed by Scott's reciting it, 24. 

Harold the Dauntless published, 255. 

Hawthorne, Nathaniel, at Abbotsford, 
399. 

Heart of Mid-Lothian published, 281. 

Heber, Reginald, his prize-poem on 
Palestine, 117. 

Richard, Adolphus's letters to, 

318. 

Hemans, Mrs., at Abbotsford. 401. 

Hermand, Lord, reads from Guy Man- 
nering on the bench, 231. 

Hermitage Castle, sketch of, 115. 

Higiiland Widow, the, 415, 

Hogg, James, his idle talk on Lady 
Scott's parentage, 93. His first 
meeting with Scott, 112. Free and 
easy manners, 120. His remarkable 
history, 120. Writes first sketch of 
the Chaldee MS., 279. Anecdote of, 
286. 

Holland, Lord, his criticism on Old 
Mortality, 250. 

Home, John, author of Douglas, 
takes Scott to the theatre at Bath, 
22. Present when he met Burns, 53. 

House of Aspen, the, 419. 

Howitt, William, his estimate of 
Scott's earnings, 393. 

Hugh Littlejohn (John Hugh Lock- 
hart), 310. 

Hunnewell, James F., his Lands of 
Scott quoted, 89. Description of 
the Popping-Stone at Gilsland, 90. 



Ireland, visit to, 351. 

Irving, John, Scott's first college 

friend, 41. 
Washington, his Knickerbocker, 

258. Visits Abbotsford, 261. 
Italy, Scott embarks for, 441. 
Ivanhoe published, 294. 



J. 



Jeffrey, Francis, first meets Scott, 61. 
Favorably reviews Lay of the Last 
Ministrel, 131. Severe criticism on 



482 



INDEX. 



Marmion, 143. Rebuff from Mrs. 
Scott, 144, Lady of the Lake 
favorably noticed, 144; and Waver- 
ley, 216. 
Jobson, Miss Janet, of Lochore, 347. 
Married to Capt. Scott, 348. 



K. 

Keith, Mrs., of Ravelstone, 31. 

Kemble, John Thilip, declines to put 
the House of Aspen on the stage, 
97. Intimacy with Scott, 156. 

Kcnilworth, 308. 

Killarney, banner at, 354. 



L. 



Laidlaw, William, his first meeting 
with Scott, 111. Living at Kaeside, 
256. Blackwood's Magazine, Scott 
writes for, 277. Scott's letters to, 
383. Returns to Kaeside, 424. Death, 
451. 

Langhorne, Burns affected by quota- 
tion from, 52. 

Lardner, Dr., on ocean steam naviga- 
tion, 422. History of Scotland 
written for, 422. 

Lasswade cottage, 96. The willow- 
arch by moonlight, 99. Literary 
work at, 100. 

Lay of the Last Minstrel published, 
122. Its origin, 123. 

Legend of Montrose, 283. 

Lenore, translation of, printed, 81. 

Leslie, C. R., paints Scott's portrait at 
Abbotsford, 269. 

Lewis, Matthew Gregorv, author of 
the Monk, 100. Meets Scott, 101. 

Leyden, Dr. John, 102. Introduced 
to Scott, 110. His career in India, 
111. Scott's Memoir of. 111. Anec- 
dote of, 111. 

labrary at Abbotsford, 401. 

lockhart, John Gibson, notice of, 278. 
Contributes to the Chaldee MS. 
and the Noctes, 279. Author of 
Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk, 280. 
Scott's biographer, 280. Marries 
Miss Scott, 300. Residence at Chiefs- 
wood, 304. Visits Ireland, 351-367. 
Editor of Quarterly Review, 369. 
Removal to London, 370. Death, 451. 

John Hugii, Scott's grandson, 

310. Death, 450. 

Lord of the Isles published, 193. 
Quoted from by O'Connell. 195. 

Lyndhurst, Lord, a great novel-reader, 
'202. 



M. 



McCrie, Dr. Thomas, assails Scott's 
exhibition of the Covenanters, 253. 

Mackay the actor at Theatrical-fund 
Dinner, 411. 

Maclise, Daniel, sketches portrait of 
Scott, 357; in Frasei's Magazine, 
358. 

Mac Ivor, Fergus, his dungeon in 
Carlisle Castle, 215. 

Mackenzie, Henry, author of the Man 
of Feeling, 55. First Scottish nov- 
elist, 205. 

R. Shelton, first meeting with 

Sir Walter in Ireland, 359; in Lon- 
don, .307. 

Malachi Malagrowther's letters on 
paper-money, 391. 

Malta, Scott at, 442. 

Marmion published, 139. Byron's sat- 
ire upon, 141. Rejected Addresses, 
parody upon, 142. Severely reviewed 
by Jeffrey, 143. 

Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, in the 
Abbot, 297. Posthumous portrait 
of at Abbotsford, 398. 

Mathews, Charles, the comedian, ac- 
companies Scott to Ivenilworth, 245. 

Meadowbank, Lord, discloses the au- 
thorship of Waverley, 410. 

Melrose unvisited, 129. 

Minerva-pi-ess novels, 207. 

Monastery, the, 295. 

Monk, the, prurient romance by M. G. 
Lewis, commended by C. J. Fox, 
100. 

Mous Meg restored to Edinburgh, 
338. 

Moore, Thomas, satire on Scott in 
Twopenny Post-Bag, 199. At Ab- 
botsford, 370; at Edinburgh, 373. 

Moral of Scott's life, 1-13, 477. 

MorrJtt, J. B. S., of Rokeby, descrip- 
tion of Scott by, 148. 

Motherwell, William, his report on 
the Border Minstrelsy, 114. 

Murray, John, London, publisher of 
Marmion, 138. His liberality, 421. 

Music, Scott's indifference to, 405. 



N. 

Naples, residence at, 443. 

Napoleon in the regiment of La Fere, 
anecdote of, 45. Downfall, return, 
and defeat, 241. Life of announced, 
350; published, 412. 

Newton, G. Stuart, his portraits of 
Scott, 269-272. 

Noctes Ambrosianae, the, 278. 

Niebuhr's mistaken personal criti- 
cism on Scott, 106. 



INDEX. 



483 



Isoblessede la robe. Chancellor D'A- 

fuesseau upon, 48. Its status in 
;ngland, 98. 
Northcote, James, portrait of Scott 
by, 459. 

O. 

O'Connell, anecdote of./O. A great 
novel-reader, 202. His regret for 
his brother's rudeness to Scott, 356. 

Old Mortality published. 250. 

Opus Magnum, the, projected, 418. 
Success of, 421. 

Orkney Islands visited, 192. 



P. 



Painting, Scott's incapacity for, 467. 

Panic of 1825, .378. Eliect on Scott's 
fortune. .379. 

Paper lords, 56. 

Parodies by the brothers Smith, 
Paulding, and Colman, 198. 

Patterson, llobert, the original of Old 
Mortality, 251. Kemarkable for- 
tunes of'his descendants, 252. 

Paulding, J. K.. parodies, — Lay of 
the Scotch Fiddle, and Jokeby, — 
198. 

Paul's Letters to his Kinsfolk, 243. 

Peebles, poor Peter, 69. 

Percy, Dr., editor of Reliques of An- 
cient Poetry, 113. 

Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk, bv 
Lock hart, 280. 

Peveril of the Peak, 340. 

Pharos loquitur, 248. 

Pirate, the, 329. 

Pitt, William, his admiration of the 
Lav, 132. 

Platoff, Hetman of the Cossacks, 244. 

Plays founded on the poems and nov- 
els, 475. 

Poacher, the, imitation of Crabbe, 176. 

Poets as readers,— Scott, Coleridge, 
Southey, Moore, Lover. Byron, 
Dickens, — 23-25. 

Porter, Jane, her Scottish Chiefs 
written long after Waverley was 
begun. 206. 

Prince Regent of England, his appre- 
ciation of Scott's genius, 188. In- 



vites him to Carlton House, 199. 
Scott his guest, 235. —See George 

Privy Council, seat in declined, 432. 

Purdie, Tom, instahed as grieve, 121. 
Anjecdote of, 326. Takes Scott's ad- 
vice, 376. Death of, 423. 

Purgstall, Countess of, 81. 



Q. 

Queenhoo Hall finished by Scott, 146. 
Quentin Durward, 341. 



R. 



Radcliffe, Mrs,, her Mysteries ofUdol- 
pho first sensational romance, 205. 

Raeburn, Henry, the painter, knight- 
ed, 3.38. 

Reading at breakfast, 56. 

Redgauntlet, .344. 

Regalia of Scotland found, 277. 

Rejected Addresses, parody on Mar- 
mion, 142. 

Religious Discourses, 418. 

Reliquiae Trottosienses, — Catalogue 
of Abbotsford Museum and Library, 
— 435. 

Richardson, Samuel, first English 
novelist, 204. 

Robertson, Lord, 461. 

Rob Roy, title suggested by Constable, 
256. Published, 273. 

Rokeby, 186. 

Rome, residence at, 443. 

Rosebank bequeathed to Scott, 118. 

Roxburgh Club, .342. 

Roxburghshire, boyish wanderings 
through, .36. 

Rutherford, Professor, Sir "Walter's 
grandfather, 16. 

Christian, Scott's aunt, her ad- 
vice not to write a third great poem, 
160. 



S. 



St. Andrew's, the Silent City, 84. 
St. Ronan's Well, .343. 
Sandy-Knowe, residence of Sir Wal- 
ter's grandfather, 17. 



Scott, Sir Walter, Baronet. 
1771-1777. — Born Auar. 15, 1771, in Edinburgh, 15. — Becomes Lame in his 
Eighteenth Month, "iS. — Sent to the Farm-House of Sandy-Knowe, 19.— 
Anecdotes of his Childhood. 20. — Early Impressions, 21. — Sent to Bath in 
his Fourth Year, 21. — First Visit to the Theatre, 22. — Mrs. Cockburn de- 
scribes his Precocity in his Seventh year, 30. — At Home in Edinburgh, 31. 



484 



INDEX. 



Scott, Sir Walter : — 

1778-1786. — At the High School of Edinburgh, 33. — School Anecdotes, 34.— 
First Verses, 35.— At the Grammar School at Kelso, 37. — Reads Spenser, 
and Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry. .38, 39. — Meets James Ballantyne, 
40. — Enters the University of Edinburgh. 41. — Early Story-Telling, 42. — 
Refuses to learn Greek, 43. — Second Serious Illness, 43. — I)esultory Read- 
ing, 44. 

1786-1792. — Apprentice to the Law, 48. — Pocket-Money earned by copjing, 
49. — Visits the Highlands, 51. — Meets Robert Burns, 51. — His Associates, 
58. — Literary Societies. 58. — Librarian of the Speculative Society, 61. — 
First meets Francis Jeffrey, 61. — Visits Flodden Field. Otterburn, and 
Chevy Chase, 61. — Burns a long Poem on the Conquest of Granada, writ- 
ten at Sixteen,62. — Studies for the Bar, 62. — Admitted as Advocate (11th 
July, 1792), 63. 

1792. — On Circuit, 67. — Raid into Liddesdale, 67. — Xorthward Excursions, 
68. — German Studies, 69. — Quartermaster in the Edinburgh Volunteer 
Cavalry, 71. — Acquaintance with Modern Languages, 71. — Distaste for 
Angling. Chess, Billiards, and Cards, 75. 

1793-1798. — Studies G-erman Literature, 78. — Translates Burger's Lenore, 
80; and Der Wilde Jiiger, 81. — Publication of, 81. — Translates Goetz von 
Berlichingen of the Iron Hand, 81. — First Love, 82 et seq. — Minstrelsy of 
the Scottish Border in Hand, 86. — Military Occupation, 87. — Small Suc- 
cess at the Bar, 87. — Meets Miss Carpenter at Gilsland Spa, 88. — Marriage 
in Carlisle Cathedral, Christmas Eve, 1797, 94. 

1799-1804. — At Lass wade Cottage, 96. — Publishes Goetz of the Iron Hand, 
96. — Writes the House of Aspen, 97. — Death of his Father, 98. — Writes 
the Ballads of Glenfinlas and the Eve of St. John, 101. — Acquaintance with 
Monk Lewis, 101. — Small Edition of Translations and Original Ballads 
printed by Ballantvne at Kelso, 104. — Border Minstrelsy begun, 104. — Ap- 
pointed Sheriff-Depute of Selkirkshire, 106. — Meets Richard Heber, 109; 
and John Leyden, 109. — Ballad-Hunting with William Laidlaw and James 
Hogg, 111. — Corresponds with Bishop Percy and Joseph Ritson, 112. — 
First Acquaintance with George Ellis and George Canning, 112. — Removal 
to 39, North Castle Street, 112 —Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border pub- 
lished, 113 ; Thomas the Rhymer concluded by, 113. — The Kelso Press, 
114. — Removal of Ballantyne's Press to Edinburgh, 116. — The Lay of the 
Last Minstrel begun, 116. — Visit to London, and distinguished Reception 
there, 116. — Meets Reginald Heber at Oxford, 117. — First Contributions to 
the Edinburgh Review, 117. — Removal from Lasswade to Ashestiel, 118. 
— Succeeds to the Villa and Lands of Rosebank, 118. — Visit from Words- 
worth, 119. — Installs Tom Purdie. a Poacher, as Grieve, 121. — Loan to Bal- 
lantvne, 121. — Lay of the Last Minstrel published, 122. — Melrose not seen 
by Moonlight, 129. — Album Verses thereon, 130. 

1805-1808. — Favorable Reception of the Lay, 131. — Commendation by Fox 
and Pitt, 132. — Secretly becomes a Partner in Ballantyne's Printing-Office, 
133. — Undertakes to edit Dryden, 1-34. — Waverley begun, criticised, and 
laid aside, 135. — Meeting with Sir Humphry Davy, 136. — Gilsland re- 
visited, 136.— False Alarm of Invasion, 136.— Visited by Southey, 136.— 
Appointed a Principal Clerk of Session, 137. — Lionized in London, 137. — 
Marmion published, 139. — Severely reviewed by Jeffrey, 143. — Anecdote 
of Mrs. Scott. 144. — Edition of Dryden published, 145. — Finishes Strutt'a 
Queenhoo Hall, 146. — Intercourse with Mr. Morritt of Rokeby, 147. 

1809-1810. — Quarterly Review established, 152. —Establishes a Publishing- 
House in Edinburgh, 152. — Byron's English Bards, 154. — Trustee of Edin- 
burgh Theatre, 1.55.— Social Habits, 156. — Edits Anna Seward's Literary 
Remains, 158. — Lady of the Lake published, 161. — Remarkable Success, 162. 

1810-1811. — Specimens of the Poem, 164 et seg. — Scott's High Estimate of 
Burns and Joanna Baillie, 171. — Adam Fergusson's Readings in Portugal, 
171.— Visits the Hebrides, 173. — Vision of Don Roderick published, 175. 
— The Poacher, Imitation of Crabbe, 177. — First Purchase of Land, 177.— 
Habits of Life, 179. — Terry plans the Cottage at Abbotsford, 180. 

1812 -1S13. — Byron seizes the Laurel, 182. — Rokeby, and Bridal of Trier- 
main, published, 186. — Correspondence with Bvron commenced, 187.— 
Kemoval to Abbotsford, 190. — Voyage with the Lighthouse Commission- 



INDEX. 485 



BcoTT, Sir Walter: — 

ers to Orkuey. Shetland, the Hebrides, and North of Ireland, 192. — Paro- 
dies. American and English, 197. — Moore's TwopennvPost-Bag, 198. — In- 
vitation to Carlton House, 199. — Declines the Office tjf Poet-Laureate. 200. 

1814. — Novelists of the Past, 202-207. — Waverley completed and published, 
208. — Great Care to conceal the Authorship, 209. — Essavs on Chivalry, the 
Drama, and Romances, 210. — Summer Work on Waverley, 210. — Edition 
of Life and Works of Swift published, 211. — Asks Thomas Scott to write 
a Canadian Storv, 214. — Compliment to Miss Edgeworth in Postscript to 
Waverley, and lier Lost Letter to the Unknown Author, 217-221. — Miss 
Mitford on Waverlev, 222. 

1814-1815. — More Purchases of Land, 224. — Lord of the Isles published, 
225. — Joseph Train, 226. — Origin of Guy Mannering, 228. — Lord of the 
Isles published, 230. — Lord Herraand's Reading in the Court of Session, 
2.31. — A Guest at Carlton House, 236. — Royal Gift, 239. — Intimacy with 
Byron, 239. 

1815-1817. — Downfall of Napoleon, 241. — Visits Brussels and Paris, 242 et 
seg. — Reception at Paris, 244. — Meets Platolf, Blticher, and Wellington, 
245. — Last Meeting with Byron, 245. —Publication of the Field of Water- 
loo, Paul's Letters, and the Antiquary, 246. — Scene at the Bell-rock 
Lighthouse, 248. — Album Verses, 249.- Death of his Brother, Major John 
Scott, and Accession of Propertv, 250. — First Series of Tales of My Land- 
lord published, 252. — Origin of Old Mortality. 252. — Handsel of Abbots- 
ford, 255. — Harold the Dauntless published, 256. — Aspires to the Judicial 
Bench, 256. — First Severe Illness, 257. — Laidlaw and Adam Fergusson 
installed at Kaeside and Huntley Burn, 257. 

1S13-1S26. — American Friends and Visitors. 259-268.— Letter on Knicker- 
bocker's History of New York, 258. — Henry Brevoort, 258. — Washington 
Irving's Visit to Abbotsford, 261. — Miss Scott's Scottish Ballad, 262.— 
Effective Friendship for Irving, 263. — Edward Everett, 263. — The Heart 
of Mid-Lothian read aloud in Abbotsford, 264. — George Ticknor, Scott's 
Guest in Castle Street, 265 ; at Abbotsford, 266.— C E. Leslie, R.A., 
268. — G. Stuart Newton, 269. — Painted by both Artists, 269. — John In- 
man's History of a Sketch, 270. 

1818. — Rob Roy published, 273. — Anecdote of Wordsworth, 274. — Drama- 
tized by Terry, 275. — Charles Mackay as Bailie Nicol Jarvie, 276. — Takes 
up Bond to the Duke of Buccleugh, and winds up Affairs of PubHshing- 
House with Great Loss, 276. — Scottish Regalia found, 277. — Writing for 
Blackwood's Magazine, 277. — Death of George Bullock, 277. — Meets J. 
G. Lockhart, 278. — Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk, 279. — Heart of Mid- 
Lothian published, 281. — Proof-sheet Dinner at Bailantyne's, 281. — Le- 
gend of Montrose, and Bride of Lammermoor, published, 283. —Review 
of the Fourth Canto of Childe Harold, 284. — Baronetcy offered. 284. — Ac- 
cession of Property by Death of John Carpenter in India, 264. — Sale of 
Copyrights, 285. 

1819. — Return of Severe Illness, 286. — Anecdote of the Ettrick Shepherd, 
286. — Death of the Duke of Buccleugh, 287. — Ivanhoe chiefly composed 
by Dictation, 288. — Origin of the Bride of Lammermoor, 290. —Tragic 
Anecdote of Stephanoff the Painter, 292. — Young Walter Scott enters the 
Army, 293. — Ivanhoe published, 294. 

1820. — Publication of the Monastery, 295 : and of the Abbot, 296. — Mary 
Stuart, 296. — Portrait by Lawrence, and Bust bv Chautrey, 297. —Meets 
Allan Cunningham, 297'. — Baronetcy conferred, 298. — Lockhart marries 
Miss Scott, 300. — Her Death in 1837,' 300. — Miss Edgeworth's Tribute to, 
301. — Open House at Abbotsford, 303. — University Honors offered, 304 — 
Biographies for Novelists' Library, 307. — Presidency of Royal Society 
of Edinburgh, 308. 

1821. — Publication of Kenil worth. 306 —Anachronisms in, 309. — John Bai- 
lantyne's Death. 311. — Coronation of George IV., 312. — Anecdote, 313.— 
Authorship of Waverley attributed to Sir Walter Scott, Thomas Scott, 
314. — To William Erskine, George Cranstoun, Dugald Stewart, Henry 
Mackenzie. Sir Adam Fergusson. Mrs. Hamilton, and Mrs. Brunton, 316.— 
To Dr. Greenfield and to Lord Bvron, 317. — J. L. Adolphus's Letters to 
Hftber on, 318. — Proof from Internal Evidence that one 2*lind produced 



486 INDEX. 



Scott, Sir Walter : — 

Marmion and Waverley, 319-325. — Anecdote of Tom Purdie, 326. — Pub- 
lication of the Pirate, 329. — Second Sale of Copyrights, 330. — Visit by 
C. M. Young the Actor, and Son, described by the Latter, 331. 

1822. — Accepts Dedication of Byron's Cain, 332. —Dramatic Productions, 333. 

— Work of two llainy Mornings, 334. — Fortunes of Nigel published, 334. — 
George IV. visits Scotland, 336. — Popularity of the King, 337. — Henry Rae- 
burn and Adam Fer^russon knighted, 338. — Restoration ot Mons Meg, .338. 

1823. — Publication of Peveril of the Peak, 340; and of Quentin Dur\vard,341. 

— Reception of the Latter in France, .342. —Roxburgh Club elects him 
Member, 342. — Professors of Ancient History in Royal Academy, .342. — 
Founds the Bannatyne Club, 342. — Death of Thomas Scott in Canada, 342. 

— Miss Edgeworth visits Abbotsford, 342. — Third Sale of Copyrights, 342. 

— Publication of St. Ronan's Well, 343. 

1824. — Redgaunt let and New Edition of Swift published, .344, 315. — Tribute 
to the Memory of Byron, 345. — Abbotsford completed, .347. 

1825. — Marriage of Capt. Scott and Miss Jobson of Lochore, 347. — Constable's 
Miscellany projected, 349. — The Betrothed and the Talisman published, 

350. — Life of Napoleon Bonaparte announced, 350. — Visit to Ireland, 

351. — Enthusiastic Reception in Dublin, 352. — Irish Wit, .353. — At 
Edgeworthtown, 354. — Miss Edgeworth accompanies the Party to Killar- 
ney, 354. — The Banner, 355. — Stag-Hunt refused, 355. — Scott's Treat- 
ment of the Irish in hia Writings, .356. — At the Blarney Stone, 357. — 
Portrait taken by Maclise at Cork, 357. — Town of Fermoy, .358. — Arrival 
at, 359. — Narrow Escape from a Dangerous Accident, 360. — Interviewed 
by his own Invitation, 361. — Personal Appearance, 361. — Conversation, 
.362. — An Exchequer Anecdote, 365. — Writing History, .368. — Tales of a 
Grandfather, 369. — Tom Moore at Abbotsford, 370-73. — With Moore in 
Edinburgh Theatre, 373. — Begins a Diary, .376. — Panic of 1825, 378. 

1826. — Involved in the Ruin of Cnnstnble and Ballantyne, 379. — Liable for 
Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars, w hich he undertakes to pay off 
by his Pen, .382. — In the Htmds of Trustees, 382. — Letter to Laidlaw, 383. 

— Princely Oilers of Assistance declined, 384. — Woodstock published, 386. 

— Death of Lady Scott, 386. — Visit to London, 388. — Guest of George 
IV. at Windsor, 388. — Revisits Paris, 388. — Malachi Malagrowther's Let- 
ters on Proposed Abolition of One-pound Notes in Scotland, 391. — They 
defeat the Proposition, 391. —Expenditure and Earnings, 393. — Abbots- 
ford described, 396-405. — The Debts cleared ofli", 407. 

1827. — Authorship of Waverley avowed. 410. — Thirty-five Persons in the 
Secret, 412. — Life of Napoleon published, 412. — Gen. Gourgaud excepts 
to it, 413. — Correspondence with Goethe, 4:4. — Publication of Chroni- 
cles of the Canongate, 415. — Tales of a Grandfather, 416. 

1828. — Waverley Copyrights repurchased, and the Opus Magnum projected, 
417. — Religious Discourses, 418. — Fair Maid of Perth, 419. — House of 
Aspen, 419. — In London: Bust by Chantrey, Portraits by Haydon and 
Northcote, 419.— Revisits Carlisle, 420. 

1829. — Greenshields the Sculptor, Statue by, 420. — Great Success of the Opus 
Magnum, 421. — John Murray presents the Copyright of Marmion, 421. — 
Petitions for Catholic Emancipation, 422. — Anne of Geierstein published, 
423. — Death of Tom Purdie, 423. — Laidlaw returns to Kaeside, 424. — 
Planting a Landscape, 426. 

1830. — Paralytic Seizure, 427. — Tales of a Grandfather, 427-429.— History 
of Scotland for Lardner's Cyclopaedia, 429. — Letters on Demonology and 
Witchcraft, 430. 

1831. — Declining Health, 431. — Superannuated, 4.31. — Refuses the Dignity 
of Privy Councillor, 432. — Count Robert of Paris, and Castle Dangerous, 
433. — Appeal in Favor of Charles X. at Holyrood, 433. — Library and 
Museum presented him by his Creditors, 435. — Anti-Reform Agitation, 
4.36. — Insulted at a Public Meeting in Roxburghshire . 437. — Unpopularity 
at Jedburgh, 438. — Proposed Voyage to Italy in a Royal Frigate, 439. — 
The Son of Robert Burns received at Abbotsford, 439. — Farewell Visit 
from Wordsworth, 440. — In London, at Lockhart's, 440. — Embarks for 
Italy, 441. — On Graham's Island, 441. — Malta, 442. — Naples, 442. 

1832. — Last Literary Productions, 442. — Residence at Naples, 443. — Visits 



INDEX. 



487 



Scott, Sir Walter : — 

Kome, 443. — Returns Home, 444. — Fatal Attack at Nimeguen, 444. — In 
Jermvn Street, London, 444. — Voyage to Edinburgh, 445. — Journey to 
Abbotsford, 445 —His Closing Days, 447, 448. — His Death, 449. — Inter- 
ment in Dry burgh Abbey, 450. 

Monuments to his Memory, — in Edinburgh, 452-454; in Glasgow, 455; 
in Selkirk, 455 ; in the United States, 455. 

Statue of, by John Greenshields, 455. 

Busts of, by Chantrey, Joseph and Lawrence Macdonald, 456. 

Portraits of, by Saxon, Raeburn, Phillips, Wilkie, Geddes, Lawrence, G. S. 
Newton, C. R. Leslie, Knight, Colvin Smith, J. Watson Gordon, Grant, 
Allan, Landseer, Maclise, Henning, Moncriefl', Chantrey, Haydon, North- 
cote, and Faed, 456-459. 

His Personal Appearance, 461-464. — Out-of-door Life, 465. — Incapacity for 
Music, 465; for Painting, 467. — Bird's Battle-Field of Chevy Chase, 469.— 
His Letter on, 471. — Calligraphy, 472. — Dramatic Attempts, 474. — Did he 
edit Shakspeare ? 475. — Character and Moral of his Life, 477. 



Scott, the family of, 15. 

Walter, Writer to the Signet, fa- 
ther of Sir Walter, 15. Marriage, 16. 
Character of, 18. Death of, 98. His 
high character, 99. 

Mrs., mother of Sir Walter, 16. 

Her superior education, 18. Her 
son's literary confidante, 63. 

Miss Janet, Sir Walter's aunt, 21. 

At Kelso, 37. 

Major John, the poet's brother, 

death of, 250. 

Capt. Robert, Sir Walter's uncle, 

at Rosebank, Kelso. Visit to, 45. 
Death, and bequeaths Rosebank to 
Scott, 118. 

Thomas, third brother of Sir Wal- 
ter, 62 passim. Succeeds to his 
father's law-business, 99. Death of, 
342. 

Lady, large bequest to by her 

brother, 284. Wanted a new carpet, 
•332. Described Abbotsford as •• a 
large hotel where no person paid," 
381. Cannot realize the ruin of their 
fortunes, :?84. Death of, 386. — See 
Carpenter. 

Walter (the poet's son), under 

the tuition of Dominie Sampson, 
192. Enters the army, 293. Mar- 
riage, 348. Death, 450. 

(jharles, Sir Walter's second 

son. educated in Wales, .307. At 
Oxford, 347. In Italy, 442. Death, 
451. 

Anne, visits Ireland, 351. In 

Italy. 442. Death, 451. 

Sophia, marries J. G. Lockhart, 

300. Death, 450. 

Miss Hope, present heiress of 

Abbotsford, 281. 

Selkirkshire, Scott Sheriff of, 106. 

Sensation novels, founded by Mrs. 
Kadcliffe, 205. 



Seward, Anna, on the Border Min- 
strelsy, 116. Her literary bequests 
to Scott and Constable, 158. De- 
scription of Scott by, 464. 

Shakspeare, Scott's anachronisms 
about, 309, 310. Monument of, 
463. Whether edited by Scott, 475. 

Sheriff, office of, 105. 

Sheriffdom of Selkirkshire, Scott ap- 
pointed to, 106. 

Shetland Islands visited. 192. 

Shortreed, Robert, takes Scott into 
Liddesdale, 07. 

Siddons, Mrs., 155. 

Smailholme Tower, 19. Scene of 
the Eve of St. John, 101. 

Southey, Robert, visits Scott at Ashes- 
tiel, 136. Appointed poet-laureate, 
200. 

Speculative Society, Scott elected li- 
brarian of, 61. 

Staffa, Cave of, 193. 

Stephanoff, F. P., the painter, tragic 
anecdote of, 292. 

Stewart, Dugald, suspected of the au- 
thorship of Waverley, 223. 

Stove School, the, 68. 

Stuart family, Scott's early prejudice 
in favor of, 25. 

Papers, 4.32. 

Stuart, Charles Edward, grandson of 
the Pretender, the hero of Waver- 
ley, 214. 

Williamina, Scott's first love, 

marries Sir WiUiam Forbes of 
Pitshgo, 85. 

Study, Sir Walter's, at Abbotsford, 
401. 

Strutt, Joseph, prose romance of 
Queenhoo Hall, 146. 

Surgeon's Daughter, the, 415. 

Swift, Dean, his Gulliver a political 
fiction, 203. 

Swintons of Swinton, 16. 



488 



INDEX. 



T. 



W. 



Tales of a Grandfather, 369, 417. 

of Plunder, 102. 

of Terror, apology for, 104. 

of Wonder, 102. 

Talisman, the, 350. 

Taylor, Wiliam, first translator of 
Burger's Lenore, 79. Commends 
Scott's translation, 86. 

Terry, Daniel, architect, in Edin- 
burgh, takes to the stage. 156. 
Designs Scott's cottage on Tweed- 
side, 180. Leases a theatre in Lon- 
don, 348. 

Theatre, the, Scott's liking for, 94. 

Thomas the Rhymer concluded by 
Scott, 114. 

Thompson, Rev. John. His painting 
of Fast Castle, 404. 

Train, Joseph, 225. Devotes himself 
to Scott, 227, 229. Presents the Wal- 
lace chair, 403. Death, 451. 

Tully Veolan, original of, 31. 

Turner, landscapes by, 404. 

Two Drovers, the, 415. 



U. 

Umbrella, courtship under an, 82. 



Walker, Helen, original of Jeanie 
Deans, 282. Monument over her 
grave, 282. 

Wallace chair, the, in Scott's studio, 
403. 

Wat of Harden, 16. 

Waterloo, the Field of, 246. 

Watt, James, as characterized by 
Scott, 189. 

Waverley begun and laid aside, 1.35. 
Completed, published, and success- 
ful, 208. The Young Chevalier its 
hero, 214. Miss Edgeworth's letter 
on, 217-221. Adolphus's letters on, 
319. Authorship of avowed, 410. 
Manuscript of, 474. 

Wellington, Scott's homage to, 189. 
His notes on Napoleon's Russian 
campaign, .389. 

William IV. grants a frigate to con- 
vey Scott to Italy, 439. 
'Willich, Dr., Scott's tutor in German, 
78. 

Wilson, John, in Blackwood's 3Iaga- 
zine, 278. Writes greater part of 
the Noctes Ambrosianje, 279. 

Woodstock, 386. 

Wordsworth, William, his first visit 
to Scott, 119. At Helvellyn with 
Davy and Scott, 136. Farewell visit, 
440. 



Vandenhoff", John, his imitation of 
Scott's chorus-singing, 466. 

Vision of Don Roderick, 175. 

Voyage with the Lighthouse Commis- 
sioners, 192. To Italy, 441. 



Y. 



Yarrow, the Flower of, her feast of 
the spurs, 17. 



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